To eat a butterfly
Research has showed time and time again that people in the ‘developed’ world are opening up to foods that might initially seem alien to them.
Many people are now aware of edible insects, and the considerable sustainability benefits they offer. Yet the range of species that might be considered worth a try remains rather narrow. Crickets, mealworms — maybe. Cockroaches — pushing it. Butterflies — WHAT?!
Unless you’re specifically interested in them, there’s something quite anonymous about crickets and grasshoppers, and most people probably wouldn’t be able to guess what type of insect a mealworm is (beetle).
There’s nothing anonymous about butterflies. If the insects have ‘charismatic’ animals to even vaguely compete with the polar bears and pandas of the world, butterflies, bees and perhaps ladybirds are going to be the standard-bearers.
An insect ripe for the kitchen?
Hats off to the chutzpah of double Michelin-starred restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, then, who not only created a dish featuring the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae), wings and all, but then published a full academic paper about it in a gastronomy journal.
This was no half-baked (sorry) effort. They started with a full nutritional analysis, finding that the butterfly contains more protein than the house cricket and migratory locust — two species approved for eating by the European Union. Energy concentration was the same as others governed by European legislation, and heavy metal levels were below established limits.
They then surveyed Danish and Spanish people to see how willing they are to try new foods in general. The Danes came out more daring. Then it came to the tasting, and conversely, the Spaniards were more into what was served. That said, it was generally well-received.
So, what exactly was served? A cracker topped with a raw, frozen butterfly, a cabbage emulsion and pickle mix, and a birch leaf. A full breakdown of the ingredients reveals loads of delicious and subtle flavours used alongside the bug, from rose hips to wild garlic. Aside from the research, the restaurant has also added a variation, P. rapae salad, to its 50-impressions menu.
Pests more apt for the pot
One factor that could get people onside with eating this butterfly in particular is that P. rapae is far from the most popular species. In fact, as its common name suggests, it has a notorious taste for all plants within the cabbage family; a scourge of farmers and hobbyist gardeners alike. Not only that, but it’s one of the most successful invasive species on the planet, getting everywhere apart from South America and Antarctica. In short, this is no threatened species being pushed to the brink.
There is, then, a case for eating this, and perhaps other ‘problem’ butterflies. But while I’m not in a brilliant position to critique some of the world’s top chefs, I’m going to have a light nibble: if you’re really serious about eating butterflies at scale, using their caterpillars would probably be a better way to do it.
While the adults’ wings undoubtedly look spectacular and appeal to high-end diners, as it stands, dishes like those served up in this work could be seen as using the insect as something of an artistic flourish rather than the main focus. It’s much easier to incorporate more insects-per-dish with caterpillars. It also reflects entomophagy practice more generally, too — larvae, as opposed to adults, are more often the go-to life stage for the table.
Our scientific chefs suggest that the aesthetics of gastronomy present an open door for introducing something as seemingly alien as eating the invasive insect that troubles you, which can ultimately lead to its normalisation. Should that be the case, and considering the potential benefits of doing so, then ‘wings and all’ it is — at least for now.
