09 January 2008

In Search of...Baby Bees



I've never been a fan of cheesecake. I have a wicked sweet tooth, but cheesecake love has always alluded me. At Christmas, my parents sent my in-laws a cheesecake from Juniors in New York. Apparently, my parents have fond memories of going to Juniors with my aunt who lived in Brooklyn, and feasting on cheesecake. I remember things a little differently. I remember someone in the group saying "let's go to Junior's", others would chime in their affirmations, and I would quietly dissent, outnumbered. Then we'd get to Junior's and everyone would order cheesecake, and I'd search the menu for something else. I hated cheesecake. I hated going to Junior's. I grew up disliking raw tomatoes and mushrooms as well, and now I can tolerate them. Similarly, I can tolerate cheesecake, but I'd never order it off a menu.

Chris and Vincent heard about my anti-cheesecake stance. Chris never knew this about me. He was shocked. Vincent took it upon himself to educate me on the joys of cheesecake. He makes a mean cheesecake. Now I can say I like cheesecake if Vincent Baker makes it. I suppose that's progress.

While chatting at dinner the night of my cheesecake education, the subject, of course turned to the strange things we've eaten or would like to eat. If you recall last year about this time, we ate deep fried waterbugs. I was not terribly successful at this, but I did try. Anyway, Vincent mentioned that he'd heard that the best bugs to eat are bee larvae because they're so sweet. The gustatory wheels in my head have been churning since. I'm on the hunt for bee larvae to fry up in my wok. In my search I found a blog of another adventurous eater: Weird Meat. I'm even more inspired. Audience assistance in my quest to find baby bees is warmly appreciated.

We talked about eating other odd things like bear, elk, big game meat. It might be easier to find a source for those than for baby bees. We'll see.

Bee Larvae Leads
Edible Insects
China Bees. Where's a "buy it now" button?
From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' Corporate Document Repository, Chapter 8 of "Value Added Products from Bee Keeping". Includes recipes!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I wouldn't mind trying fried bee larvae. :)

Hey, I can't find any contact information... can I ask for a linkback to my site, Role Playing Games by RolePlayGateway?

(Also, I'm not sure if it's just me... but your comment box is a little messed up.)

Parthenia said...

What's wrong with the comment box? It's the standard issue blogspot box, I don't think I have much control over it. It's working for me. Huh.

Click on the "email me" link on the top left corner just above the "blog archive". Let's talk!