The bugs of a great chef | The Press

Guests leave their coats in the cloakroom and head inside the room as stylish background music lounge is heard. A young woman is waiting for them with a tray of bites: small round chocolate-colored cookies. In fact, it’s shortbread pavers with pecans, crickets and linden honey, signed Daniel Vézina.

Mary Tison
The Press

There is no doubt that the event is out of the ordinary. This is the inauguration of the Entomomiam kiosk at the Le Central food court, at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Laurent, which will welcome curious gourmets by November 5. It is also a question of underlining the creation of a tasting box which will be offered as of December in certain museum institutions of Espace pour la vie.

The Insectarium is behind this initiative. The goal is to introduce people to entomophagy. In other words, encourage them to eat insects.

“Are you allergic to shellfish? asks the hostess to the guests.

Insects are arthropods, like crustaceans. Until there are more studies on the matter, it would be prudent to refrain from consuming them if you are allergic or intolerant to shellfish.

But for others, why eat bugs? Because it’s healthy, it’s tasty and it contributes to the ecological transition, says Maxime Larrivee, director of the Insectarium. “It’s probably the healthiest protein you can eat,” he says.

To work on the “tasty” aspect of the operation, the Insectarium called on Daniel Vézina to concoct, with various partners, recipes for sweet and savory bites. For the celebrity chef, it’s important that it tastes good.

“We have a taste memory,” he explains. If we taste something and we have a good memory, we will want to taste it again. »

He has prepared several recipes using mealworm flour, such as sun-dried tomato tapenade served on a seaweed chip. The result is tasty, even if we know that mealworm is actually another name for mealworm.

For Daniel Vézina, the mealworm is downright a magical product. “There are 12 grams of protein in two tablespoons of mealworm flour. It is magic ! There are 22 grams of protein in a 100 gram steak. »

He continues: “There is a lot of vitamin B₁₂ in mealworm flour, he explains. It also contains the nine amino acids that we need for our health as well as omega-3, 6 and 9.

The chef put other insects to work. He thus offers almonds with lime grasshopper salt and candies with ant syrup and balsam fir.

“When I first ate ants, I didn’t have the same enthusiasm as for mealworms,” ​​he says. But we worked on this product, we realized that when we boiled ants in syrup, it took on a very good flavor. »

Indeed, the taste of this candy is reminiscent of a nice walk in a coniferous forest. Environmental protection is just part of the appeal of entomophagy. The chef explains that insect-based protein production requires 10 times less water than traditional animal protein production. It also requires a fraction of the rearing space.

“We know that animal production contributes to the destruction of our planet, maintains Daniel Vézina. It is therefore in our interest to go towards insects. »

To mark the opening of the Entomomiam kiosk, the chef demonstrates the use of mealworm flour by preparing energy balls live. He mixes pumpkin, sunflower, flax, hemp and chia seeds, then adds dried blueberries, goji berries, mealworm powder, oat bran and fiber, powder walnuts, date puree and honey. He forms small balls which he dips in chocolate before rolling them in a breadcrumb made of wild rice, pumpkin seeds, kasha, mealworm and cocoa.

“If you eat two of these energy balls in the morning, you may not need lunch. It supports. »

But it’s not necessarily everyone who wants to eat bugs.

“We don’t force anyone,” says Daniel Vézina. You have to go there with people’s taste. You have to take the time to present them with things that will please them. »