{"id":22924,"date":"2019-10-16T10:12:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T17:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=22924"},"modified":"2019-10-16T10:13:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T17:13:01","slug":"waiter-theres-a-bug-in-my-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2019\/10\/16\/waiter-theres-a-bug-in-my-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Waiter, there\u2019s a bug in my food!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For\nmost, discovering a winged or multi-legged crawler in their food\nwould be a problem, but for a pair of adventurous culinarians\nentrenched in the local beer scene, a dung beetle in a pile of mashed\npotatoes doesn\u2019t equate to a fly-in-the-ointment situation. It\u2019s\nexactly what they\u2019re going for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, The Good Seed Food Co.<\/a><\/strong> chef and owner Jesus \u201cChuy\u201d de la Torre<\/strong> and Cicerone and brewery vet Jesse Smith<\/strong> hatched an idea to take beer-and-food pairing to previously unexplored, creepy-crawly territory, by incorporating insects into an array of dishes. It was so outlandish that finding the right time frame and setting for such adventurous eating proved difficult. The impending arrival of All Hallow\u2019s Eve and the openness of Pariah Brewing<\/a><\/strong> eventually provided the perfect buggy backdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With details settled\u2014four courses paired with four Pariah beers presented the Tuesday before Halloween<\/a>\u2014they marched like determined army ants into the unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Working\nthe Bugs Out<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing Chuy and Jesse had to do was find and sample a variety of bugs. A mail-order service allowed them to get their pincers into a varied stash of crawling, squirming, hopping, flying creatures, none of which they had ever tasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duo met up at Pariah\u2019s tasting room in North Park\u2019s Brewery Igniter<\/a><\/strong> facility, pens and notepads in-hand, to work their way through the assortment and record their impressions. Tastes ranged from woody and earthy to toasty and herbaceous. It wasn\u2019t all that different from the range of flavors present in edible flora, vegetables or mushrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, only one or two flavor profiles disqualified particular insects; what nixed most from contention was texture. The protective exoskeletons of many of the bugs they sampled were difficult to eat in some cases, leading Chuy and Jesse to select species that were easier to get down the hatch. The last-bugs-standing quartet included crickets, giant worms, dung beetles and weaver ants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chef Chuy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A\nSwarm of Options<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With an admittedly fearsome foursome in place, it was time to see how this exotic fare would fare with Pariah\u2019s beers. The majority of owner and brewmaster Brian Mitchell<\/strong>\u2019s beers are flavored with spices, herbs and often-exotic adjuncts. This was advantageous in that they provided a wealth of supplementary flavors to raise up the somewhat bland bugs. After about an hour of flexing their palates, the following menu materialized:<\/p>\n\n\n\n