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Students Serve up Insect Banquet
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Transtlate In an effort to encourage their fellow students to pay more attention to the natural food resources around them, the Insect Association at Yangtze University in Jingzhou, Hubei Province decided to host a banquet with a menu of crunchy creatures.
Nearly 1,000 teachers and students tucked into eight courses of creepy-crawlies at the university's Agriculture School on Saturday, serving up insects including locusts, flour weevils, cicadas and crickets.
"The purpose of the event is to inspire students to understand insects, love agriculture and live a low carbon style life through making use of natural resources," said Cai Zhongbing, 21, a plant protection sophomore student and head of the association.
For many at the banquet, which cost the association just 600 yuan ($88) to prepare, it was their first time to eat an insect.
Some said they were delicious. "Live and dead insects look horrible, but were delicious after being cooked," Cai said.
"They are good to eat, locusts taste as fresh as shrimps," said Cai Xiang, 22, an agriculture sophomore.
B u t some others struggled to adapt to the unusual textures of hard shells and slime.
Tang Ni, a 20-year-old freshman in agricultural resources and protection, closed her eyes and tried to swallow. "They look dirty. When you chew, they are not as tasty as vegetables, meat or normal food, " she said.
Some of her schoolmates were too scared to gulp down the bugs, and spat them out.
Meanwhile, entomologists recommend eating insects for nutrition.
"Insects are healthy food with plenty of protein, amino acid and vitamins," said Li Chuanren, an entomology professor at the school.
According to him, there are more than 300 edible insects across the country.
Inspired by the teachers' and students' enthusiasm for the banquet, school officials have decided to hold a larger scale event next time round.
"Teachers and students who missed it said they were disappointed, so we want to compensate them with a second banquet, " said Sun Xiwang, vice secretary of the school's Party Committee.
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