Festival features bugs in food

While Halloween is set aside to celebrate the spooky, scary things that lurk about, an event at Iowa State University tonight tries to show how insects are more helpful than scary. Joel Coats, the chair of the I-S-U Entomology Department, oversees the students who put together tonight’s “Insect Horror Film Festival.” He says the students will try to educate people about a couple things: that insects can be fun, and if you study them, they can have a lot of utility for humans. The festival includes a chance for an up close look at hissing cockroaches, hornworm caterpillars and tarantulas.He says it’s a good opportunity to see and touch insects and ask questions about them. Coats says the students have also cooked up some treats featuring insects as part of the ingredients. While we usually only see people eating insects on reality TV shows, Coats says there’s nothing wrong with eating them.He says insects are very closely related to the crustaceans we eat, such as crabs, and he says they generally include protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals of other foods. I-S-U students have taken their insects treats on national TV before, and Coats says they could soon turn up there again.He says the Food Channel is interested in the video of the students making the treats and also want to take more video tonight of the treats being served. The festival tonight will feature the film “A Bug’s Life.” It begins at six p-m at the I-S-U Memorial Union and is free and open to the public.