Your Ancestors Probably Ate Insects. So What's Bugging You?
An anthropologist takes a deep dive into the history of gathering, raising and eating insects, and why in America and Europe, they're unlikely to become a mainstream food option anytime soon.
Grossed out by that maggot squirming in your apple?
Your ancestors weren't. In fact, they probably would have popped the offending creature into their mouths and relished its savory flavor.
At least, that's what Julie Lesnik thinks. Lesnik is an assistant professor of anthropology at Wayne State University. She studies how people (and their prehistoric relatives) have gathered, farmed, and cooked insects for food.
Her new book, Edible Insects and Human Evolution, is primarily aimed at anthropologists and other researchers who study insects in the human diet. In it, she argues that people have been eating bugs for millennia, and our current disgust is a relatively new phenomenon.
