Have You Had Your Bugs Today?
Keep Austin weird, eat healthier, and save the planet… all by eating delicious and nutritious edible insects!
Back by popular demand, Little Herds is presenting The 9th Annual Bug Eating Festival at the award winning, package free, zero-waste innovative grocery store in.gredients.
Little Herds is an educational nonprofit organization in Austin, run by volunteers and funded by public donations from people who support their mission to educate and empower communities (local and global) to support and promote the use of insects for food and feed as an environmentally sound and economically viable source of nutrition.
Read more: The Ultimate Survival Food
The 9th Annual Bug Eating Festival
It’s open to the public and free for kids. Come out on Wednesday night, July 13th, from 5pm to 9pm, to 2610 Manor Road, Austin, TX 78722. This is your chance to learn about insects as a food for people, food for our pets, and feed for our livestock. You’ll also get to sample local products made with insects, taste the results of insect cooking demonstrations from acclaimed local chefs, and learn about other Austin startups and nonprofits.
“It’s a great family-friendly way to try that first bite and break the mental hurdle that prevents so many people from experiencing this new food movement,” says Robert Nathan Allen – the event’s organizer and Director of the nonprofit Little Herds.
Who Would Start an Event Like This?
The Bug Eating Festival attracts hundreds of people each year. “It started out in 2008 behind my barn with about 40 of us,” says Marjory Wildcraft, the originator of the event. “We started it on a lark, just for the fun of it. And every year it gets bigger and more fun. We outgrew my barn, then the community center, and then we even outgrew Zilker Park.”
“It always surprises me how the kids are crowded around the tables to get at the insects first. I’ve had a lot of the kids tell me they’ve been eating bugs all along,” says Wildcraft. “The kids think it is fun to get their parents in on the game.”
The Bug Festival is a favorite with the homeschooling community, naturists, preppers, and those interested in deep sustainability.
“It’s a fun way to get the kids out of the house in the middle of summer,” says Allen, “and you’ll meet the most interesting people in Austin at the Bug Fest.”
What You’ll Find at the Bug Fest
The event features a popular Ento Raffle from Little Herds, offering raffle winners their choice of buggy prizes (like insect cookbooks, insect products like cricket pasta, protein bars, videos, cookies, chips, and crackers) donated by supporting businesses. Proceeds of the raffle will support delegates from Little Herds and Slow Food Austin to attend the Salone Del Gusto conference.
Also featured will be:
• locally baked cricket and mealworm cookies
• cake bars and rice crispy treats
• sauteed teriyaki crickets
• Chapulines (Oaxacan grasshopper)
• Salsa from La Condesa
• Chef Rick Lopez’s cooking demonstration
• delicious chocolates from Delysia Chocolatier
• Aketta munchies
• Crickers crackers
• Ecology Action of Texas
• Slow Food Austin
• Food & Tech Austin
• Girls Empowerment Network
• And much more
The twitter tag for the event is #BugFestATX2.
The Facebook page for the event is: https://www.facebook.com/events/838261476307044/
COMMENTS(4)
Do you eat mosquitoes? Help control the Zilka virus. Thanks for the invite to your festival but I’ll pass.
Would love to try them!
Bugs are really popular in Thailand, but I think I would have to be VERY hungry to eat them..lol
I would love to be there! My brother lives about 80 miles west of Waco and I’ve yet to see their new home. I live in Indiana and was telling my son about the Bug Fest and that I wanted to go. It just makes sense to both of us. My daughter-in-law is not so enthusiastic about it, though. I do hope to go down for next years event. Are they always held in July? I need to have more time to plan the trip, so it would be great to get a head’s up a couple of months before the one next year. Have a great time and I hope to be there next year!