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An estimated 500 people attended the customer appreciation party at the Tye-Dyed Iguana reptile store’s edible bug cookout on Saturday afternoon. The free event is annual, but the bug buffet was new this year.
A moving bug chef prepared scorpions, crickets, beetle grubs, and caterpillars. He barbecued cockroaches and deep-fried scorpions. A keen crowd of adults and children watched and waited their turns for a plate of these creepy crawlies.
Reactions were mixed, but most of the brave agreed: They're hard to pick out of your teeth.
"It's like French fries, except juicier," said Marty Bass, a 9-year-old from Fairview Heights, after finishing a plateful of crickets and rice.
Another cricket-eater, 34-year-old Jason Kemfpr of Mascoutah, described the bug as having a mushroom flavor as he pulled a leg from the corner of his mouth.
Dennis Dixon, a 44-year-old from Dupo, said his barbecued cockroach had a shell quite similar to a shrimp's. He then spat the bug out.
Chef Dave Gracer works in Providence, R.I., as a college writing and literature teacher but travels the country doing bug cooking demonstrations.
He favors his tastes to bush crickets and Thai fried grasshoppers. He never serves-live insects; the bugs served Saturday were dead before they were cooked.
Ray Gallamore, 40, of Dupo made the mistake of ramming an entire scorpion into his mouth at once. The outside was too tough, he said, so it's better just to suck out the meat, which he said tasted a little like shellfish and was "actually pretty good."
Those not eating insects listened to live music, had their faces painted, and wandered the store's range of exotic reptiles for sale.
People lined up for photos with Erik Sprague, known as "Lizardman," a popular traveling comedian famous for his appearance. He had his tongue split to look like a lizard's, and has implants made to look like horns, filed-down, pointed teeth, and green, scale-like tattoos.
He hadn't yet tried the food offered Saturday -- he prefers live insects.
"Wax and grub worms are some of the best snacks on the planet," he said.
View video of bug buffet in Thailand

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Can you imagine wondering through a labyrinthine old market, following your nose to find the most tantalizing smells of aromatic spices. Or buying ripe fruit that weren't imported from the other side of the globe, but the other side of town. Do you remember that olives actually come from hundred-year-old trees, it may be just about time for a cooking tour.
All great meals begin with the best sort out ingredients, and the best ingredients are all ways found locally-whether it's in your hometown or abroad.Cooking tours allow chefs and people that are passionate about food of all skill levels to drown themselves in a foreign culture in a way that traditional tourism cannot.
On a cooking tour, for example, participants tour a goat farm on the Greek island of Kea to see exactly how feta cheese is made, and then share in a meal overlooking the Aegean Sea with the farmer and family. Or maybe you could find yourself in India at the spice markets.
For some, it's the local markets,  that make a cooking tour an outstanding experience.
The world's markets are traditional places that can feel a bit unnerving to tourists. As part of a culinary tour, you are mostly provided with guides to help with both ingredient choice, language barriers and navigation. After these long but abundant excursions, travelers ultimately feel like natives. It's yet another way to find your inner chef and feel like a participant, not just an observer.
So next time when you book your trip, make the most of it and include a culinary tour in your travels and when you host a dinner party you can impress your guests not only with the food but a colorful story of your experience.
View video of culinary tour in Vietnam.

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New York residents with bold taste buds celebrated Saturday evening when cuisine from around the world were brought together under one roof in Herkimer.
The Herkimer County College Foundation held its seventh annual World Cuisine Festival on the Herkimer County Community College campus on Saturday evening, bringing together restaurants from across the Mohawk Valley to prepare special dishes for the all-foreign food, buffet-style event.
“(Foreign restaurants) provide one particular food of their country. We try to have a lot (of restaurants) represented,” said event chairman Jean Stapleton.
Stapleton said HCCC faculty, staff and students, including some of the 101 international students, assisted with the event and served as volunteers.
The festival also included a silent auction, regular auction and entertainment was provided by pianist Joseph DeLorenzo as well as the group Creeve Dugen.
Besides providing scholarships, the foundation has purchased and built student housing and bought property around the campus to protect it from further developments. More than 200 people attended the event.
Click here to view Herkimer Area

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This year, Thailand celebrates its new year, Songkran, over three days, starting on 13 April. Join in the festivities with a fragrant feast of Thai-style dishes and learn about the history behind the celebrations.
The Thai New Year is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April. It is also celebrated in Laos (called pi mai lao or 'Lao New Year' in Lao), Cambodia, Myanmar (where it is called Thingyan), and by the Dai people in Yunnan, China. Sri Lanka also celebrates a similar festival called Sinhalese and Tamil New Year on the same dates. The same date is celebrated widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, based on the astrological event of the sun beginning its northward journey.

The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the weekdays immediately following. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.
View video of Songkran festival

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Award winning New York photographer to the stars Melanie Dunea has thought up the most amazing idea ...What would the world's top chefs describe as what they would eat for their last super.
The photography book , called My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals, asks the biggest names in cooking what they would want to eat as their last meals.

My Last Supper tells of their fascinating answers alongside stunning portraits. The portraits — brilliant, intimate, and cheerful — are informed by their answers and unveil the devotion and charm of the most admired names in the business. . Who wouldn't want to know where Alain Ducasse would like his last supper to be? And who would prepare Daniel Boulud's final meal? What would Anthony Bourdain's guest list look like? As the clock ticked, what album would Gordon Ramsay be listening to? And just what would Mario Batali eat for the last time?
Featuring:
Ferran Adrià, José Andrés, Dan Barber, Lidia Bastianich, Mario Batali, Rick Bayless,
Michelle Bernstein, Daniel Boulud, Anthony Bourdain, Scott Conant, Gary Danko,
Hélène Darroze, Alain Ducasse, Wylie Dufresne, Suzanne Goin, Gabrielle Hamilton,
Fergus Henderson, Thomas Keller, Giorgio Locatelli, Masa Kobayashi, Nobu,
Jamie Oliver, Jacques Pépin, Gordon Ramsay, Michel Richard, Eric Ripert,
Marcus Samuelsson, Charlie Trotter, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and more...

My Last Supper has a beautiful layout and is very sophisticated. It is enjoyable reading, and would be a great coffee table book or the perfect Christmas gift for someone with a desire to learn more about these celebrity chefs. My Last Supper is a wonderful addition to any kitchen.
If you would love to see these gorgeous prints, don't miss the exhibition at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia.
You certainly wont be disappointed.
Click here to view interview with Melanie Dunea

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