Bugs leave good taste in courageous mouths

RALEIGH -- The grasshopper quiche must have beaten the mealy worm gumbo because just about everyone agreed the ant chocolate pecan pie surpassed the cricket creme brulee.

Whatever tipped the Critter Cook-off scale Friday, Raleigh tapas chef Sarig Agasi barely bested Chapel Hill's famed restaurateur Mildred "Mama Dip" Council in a prelude to today's 10th annual BugFest at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences.

The downtown Raleigh event, said to be the nation's biggest single-day celebration of insects, lasts all day. "Insectivities" will occupy the museum, a plaza outside and the adjacent Capitol grounds.

Leading attractions include the Roachingham 500, bee bearding, a flea circus and Cafe Insecta's critter fritters, antchiladas and chocolate chirp cookies.

As good as the winged and multilegged treats might be today, it'll be hard to beat the exoskelecacies cooked up Friday.

"I can't believe it -- I ate a grasshopper, and I ate ants," said Katy Christensen, 8, a third-grader from Winston-Salem, who attended the critter-cooking competition.

After polishing off a serving of Council's pie, Katy sampled Agasi's creme brulee.

"It's gross and disgusting to look at," she said. "But it's good."

A panel of TV news anchors judged the competition between Council, a master of down-home country cooking, and Agasi, whose culinary creations are cutting-edge, at least for the Triangle.

"The flavors camouflage the bugs," said WTVD's Steve Daniels. "If you had a blindfold on, all you would taste is -- delicious. Bugs or no bugs, it's very tasty."

His son Christopher, 9, agreed.

"The pie was real good," he said. "It tasted like pie. It didn't taste like bugs."

How he knew that he didn't say.

Council, well-known to Triangle diners and readers, might have been the sentimental favorite. And she didn't disappoint.

Mama Dip started with an appetizer of toasted bread with an olive oil and vinegar dressing, topped with fried grasshoppers breaded in garlic batter.

"Buglicious," said NBC-17's Donald Jones. "Don't rush the entrees."

Council's entree of worm gumbo over rice came with roll-ups of cheese, spinach and crickets.

Her chocolate pecan pie had roasted ants both inside and sprinkled atop whipped cream.

"It wouldn't be ant pecan pie if I didn't put them inside," she said.

Agasi started with a nudge.

"Let's be open-minded," he said. "Close your eyes if you're afraid. It tastes good."

He served an appetizer of rice, Swiss chard, cumin and worms wrapped in phyllo dough. "It's all free-range," he joked.

His grasshopper-laden quiche went over well with the judges, despite its buggy appearance.

"The hardest part is seeing the little antennas or whatever looking back at you," said WRAL's Debra Morgan.

But the tasters had it easy. Imagine how hard it was for the bugs.

Jones leaned toward Morgan and told her, "I've never before said to the person next to me, 'You've got ants in your teeth.' "

Today you can, too.