I stumbled across this video showing how Miya’s Sushi in Newhaven is creating gourmet sushi with insects. And though it was worth sharing for inspiration and something which is definitely becoming more prominent in cooking. Plus it’s also the perfect solution for our house, when one of us is a huge sushi addict (me), and the other is quite allergic to seafood (Liz). Obviously there’s plenty of vegetarian sushi available whether you’re eating out or at home, but protein is always good!
Foraging for local ingredients obviously isn’t new. We were lucky enough to sample some amazing results at Peterborough’s House of Feasts not too long ago. And we’re also fortunate enough to have some established herbs growing in our garden, as well as slowly adding more.
Meanwhile interest in sustainable protein sources, including insects has risen. Partly due to the fact it’s much more efficient, and partly from the likes of Bear Grylls inspiring my son to have a survival themed birthday party with freeze-dried insects.
A lot of the insect recipes for home cooking involve basically hiding the ingredients. So cricket or cockroach mixed in with flour to create cookies and cakes. Whereas creating gourmet sushi with insects offers a result that celebrates the protein source a little more.
https://vimeo.com/158037180
None of this is new. Snails are famously associated with French cuisine, foraging for plants has been done for thousands of years and has been increasingly popular for some time, and bugs are not a new food source. But I’m definitely inspired to have a go at creating something modern and fun with it now. Especially once I’ve looked at which invasive species will help the local environment in addition to filling my stomach.
Hopefully it might even help me save enough to go and visit Miya’s one day.
Time to start researching insects and recipes. If anyone has tips, advice, favourite recipes or recommended places to try out, then let me know in the comments. Hopefully I can sneak in some insects without Liz realising until after she’s complimented the food, and then work up to gourmet insect sushi.