The Importance of Entomophagy

Edward Perry
English 1010
Haley Stokes
05/07/2010

The Importance of Entomophagy

Imagine a bright red jelly bean, melting on your tongue. What you may not know, is that the outer glaze and ruby hue are derived from common insects. You may feel repulsed, but in many cultures, insects are a dietary staple. It makes sense to integrate insects into the common human diet because they are plentiful, eco-friendly to cultivate, and could benefit starving populations around the world.


Entomophagy is the practice of eating insects. Insects are part of the arthropod family, which account for an estimated 90% of Earth's animal population(“insected.arizona.edu”). These include such creatures such as centipedes, spiders, and lobster.

Chances are you have consciously eaten a variety of arthropod species, especially if you like seafood. Almost everyone has eaten a crustacean, like crab or shrimp. Consider the likeness to their smaller cousins; the “hexapod”, or insect. The segmented bodies, exoskeleton structure, antennae, and paired segmented appendages are too similar to deny a strong visual relationship between the make up of the two phyla. In the eyes of consumers however, a big difference remains; we draw the line when it comes to eating insects.

In reference to the aforementioned jellybean, most common red food coloring dye is made from the Cochineal insect of Peru. You can find it on ingredient lists as “carmine”, or “carminic acid”. It is found in many beverages, meats, and lipstick (“boston.com(The Boston Globe)”). It can also be found in yogurt, ice cream, candies, and more. It is considered a “natural ingredient” in many foods (Adams). Also, most confectioner's glazes are made from “shellac”, which is derived from beetles (“extraordinaryhealth.com”). While these examples don't qualify uses of these products as true dietary sustenance, they do illustrate the usefulness of insects within the food industry.

So far, there are at least 1,462 recorded edible insect species, and likely thousands more (Price). Giant water beetles, caterpillars, grubs, crickets, mosquito eggs, termites, ants, cicadas, bee larvae, and tomato worms are popular delicacies in many parts of the world (“WebEcoist.com”). Most edible insects are nutritious. They are a great source of protein, carbohydrates, calories, vitamins, and minerals.

Edible insects are palatable and tasty. Below is a list of various arthropod species, and corresponding flavors, written by Barb Ogg, for the Nebline Newsletter:

"* Raw termites taste like pineapple and cooked termites have a delicate, vegetable flavor.
* Grubs (which are larvae) of palm weevils taste like beef bone marrow.
* Fried agave worms (canned in Mexico) taste like sunflower seeds.
* Diving beetles (available in Chinatown in San Francisco) taste something like clams.
* Fried grasshoppers taste like sardines.
* French-fried ants (imported from Colombia) taste like beef jerky.
* A praying mantis, fried over an open fire, tastes like shrimp and raw mushrooms.
* Fried wax moth larvae taste like corn puffs or potato chips.
* Fried spiders taste like nuts.
* Fried baby bees taste like smoked fish or oysters.

Unappetizing? Consider that honey, a food that is appropriate in our culture, has been swallowed and regurgitated hundreds of times by honey bees." ("Ogg, para 2")

This list shows a broad diversity of insect flavors. There is truly something for everyone's acquired tastes.

In all habitable (and many inhospitable) regions of the planet, insects can be found aplenty. Suburban American backyards are no exception. All one needs to know about entomophagy is what, and how, to eat properly.

First, one should educate themselves on what type of insect species are edible. Specialty guide books, survival manuals, cook books, internet articles, and online journals are great informational resources.

Field guides have pictures, descriptions, nutritional data, and regional insect populations. Some contain anecdotal notes, alternative uses, and other factoids. These guides can also tell you where best to find each insect in nature (below ground, in hollow logs, etc..)

A fast look through an insect recipe books will give you an idea of the most common used species for meals in North America. Crickets and meal worms are the most prevalent insect ingredients from what I've read. Cook books will also give you an idea of the limitless possibilities for preparing insects to eat.

Online journals, encyclopedias, and articles are great for learning the basics of entomophagy. However, information retrieved via the web should be checked against other sources for accuracy. Scholarly source material is advised for educational purposes.

Most edible insects can be eaten live. They can also be freeze dried for friendlier consumption. To get over the fear factor inherent with eating insects, start simple. Begin by incorporating insects into everyday meal recipes, as you would with common proteins such as ground beef or soy products. Entomophagy shouldn't be treated as a dare based diet. A person should feel positive with their choices when beginning any perceived radical shift in lifestyle. Otherwise, risks outweigh benefits, and time and resources become wasted. Eating insects is a huge dietary step in our culture, but it's not that hard to do.

Preparing insects to eat is simple. They can be cooked just like any other food, with minimal preparation. All one needs to do is wash, strain, and put them in the freezer (If you don't have the heart to boil them alive). Once immobile, you can remove the wings, legs, and head. Add them to your favorite recipe, and cook to flavor. You can prepare them in pasta dishes, soups, casseroles, and desserts. There are hundreds of recipes readily available online for anyone curious about entomophagy. You can also find insect cookbooks at all major book stores. Here is a sample recipe from the 1989 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Issue of Sports Illustrated, reprinted in 'The Food Insects Newsletter', for Oaxaca enchiladas:

"Ingredients

About 1000 grasshoppers (the younger the better)
1/2 cup chili sauce
pinch of salt
garlic
onion
1 lemon
1 cup guacamole
6 tortillas

Directions: Soak the grasshoppers in clean water for 24 hours. Boil them, then let dry. Fry in a pan with garlic, onion, salt and lemon. Roll up in tortillas with chili sauce and guacamole."("DeFoliart 7")

You don't have to go hunting in your yard, or in a field to find insects for dinner. Harvesting these creatures from the wild can be a daunting task for any person, especially if you have to feed 6 people with the aforementioned enchilada recipe. It is advisable to get your insects from a known safe source, free of possible toxins or ingested pesticides(Price).

In a pinch, one can purge insects suspected of pesticide ingestion by feeding them fresh greens for 24 hours. Venomous arthropods, such as tarantulas, scorpions, bees, and wasps can also be cleansed of toxins or parasites by boiling or cooking them (Bryant). It is important to know the environment from which you get your food resources, and how to prepare them to eat. This makes insects no different than any food source.

Edible insects can be easily found on the open market for those who don't have land resources for harvesting purposes. Bait shops and pet stores carry a plentiful stock of crickets and meal worms (beetle larvae). You can find many online distributors that sell greater varieties of insects in bulk at lower costs as well. You can buy your insects live, or freeze dried. For the serious entomophagy aficionado, one can even raise their own livestock at home.

Proper cultivation is central to the production of food insects. On a local level, or for mass distribution, insects should be raised like any other livestock. Over harvesting them from nature can deplete their populations.

A 25 year study done by Julieta Ramos-Elorduy in Hidalgo, Mexico, reveals that many of the indigenous insect species are being exploited by commercialization and high demand. These insects were primarily part of the rural peasant diet. Now they are considered a delicacy, and are sold in major cities on the open market. Outsiders and locals alike have become reckless in their harvesting methods. Earning money has become more important than preserving the insects' natural habitat. Without replenishment strategies, many of these species are fast becoming endangered (Ramos-Elorduy)

Problems caused by over-harvesting can be avoided by learning how to maintain insect populations with sustainability in mind. Few resources are required for cultivation of common edible insects. The process is easy, and takes little space. It can even be done at home. For cultivation of beetles, for example, all one needs are containers for storage, fresh grains for feeding, and a carrot or potato slice for water (Insect cultivation requires very little water). It takes 12 weeks to raise them from egg, to meal worm, to adult beetle (Price). At home one can raise crickets, grasshoppers, and many other types of insects with low maintenance. Insects cultivation is eco-friendly. They take up little space and require few resources. Also, insect cultivation doesn't require antibiotics like other livestock (Elson).

Edible insects don't have visual appeal for consumers in their natural form. Their integration could be made palatable by processing them into common, identifiable food products. Insect flour, for example, is easy to make. All you have to do is bake insects at a low temperature until dry, and then grind them up. The flour can be spread on any food for extra protein, or used in everyday recipes(Price). I could see insects being made into sandwich patties, sauces, pasta, spreads, pastries, and supplements. This same strategy has worked well for vegan and vegetarian food substitutes.

Insects are a plentiful and important food resource, and could have a positive affect in the aid to fight starvation in third world countries and abroad.

One billion of the worlds six billion people suffer from malnutrition. An estimated 2 billion people live on vitamin and mineral deficient diets, which puts their health at risk. To make matters worse, large amounts of grain are used to produce bio fuels, animal feed, and sweeteners, while millions starve to death (Bassett, and Winter-Nelson) Promoting insect cultivation education on local and international levels could ease the hunger pangs that so many children and adults needlessly suffer through every day.

Though entomophagy is common in many cultures around the world, some developing regions are beginning to shun the practice. This is due to the spreading influence of western ideals, and our attitudes concerning what foods are acceptable to eat (Elson). This may lead to resistance for expanded insect production. Regions that suffer from lack of food resources shouldn't look to our processed drive-thru culture for answers pertaining to dietary need. Edible insects should be seen as health food, not tiny monsters.

In 1848, crickets invaded the crops of Mormon settlers here in Utah. The fields were only saved when seagulls came to the rescue. They swooped in, and ate swarms of insects. Witnesses at the time considered this a miracle. I heard this story many times growing up, and wondered why birds would eat the crickets, but the settlers wouldn't.

Indigenous peoples around the world have for centuries successfully harvested insects as human and animal food. It's a good way to spare crops, without resorting to starvation, or in modern times, pesticides. Plus, insects are many times higher in protein and fat than the plants from which they feed.

Let's compare the productive value of cricket versus cow. The food conversion efficiency of the cricket is five times that of cattle. Considering the female cricket can have 1500 offspring, compared to four calves per market cow, the true food conversion efficiency rate is really 15-20 times that of bovine livestock (De Foliart 395-399).

The Mormon cricket story reflects how our culture continues to view insects. We make them out to be the nemeses of agriculture, and mankind's plight. Our options within this narrow mindset become limited to three ways of dealing with the insect scourge wrought upon us by their dominion: 1)Hope they go away; 2)Pray for divine intervention; or 3)Introduce toxic chemicals to our crops as a stop-gap. I think we can do better than that. Advanced insect harvesting methods could be implemented to reap the benefits of all resources made available to us.

With such an erroneous stigma attached to entomophagy in civilized society, the whole idea of insect integration into our daily diet faces an uphill battle. Insects are alien, creepy, and unappealing to the general populous. This fear is ingrained in us. Put an insect on anyone and they will most likely freak out. We go out of our way to kill, poison, or flee from bugs. It's only natural, given our upbringing.

Insects are considered field pests, yet it has been shown that they can be harvested in harmony with crops (De Foliart 395-399) Insect matter can potentially cause allergic reactions in humans (Phillips, and Burkholder). So can wheat, soy, dairy, nuts, fruit, and anything else you can think of. Food allergies are not limited to insect ingestion or contact alone. A person should listen to their body, and not succumb to fear reactions when it comes to eating simple, healthy, foods.

Integrating insects into the common diet may not be for everyone. I know people who still refuse to eat tofu, because “it doesn't seem right”. Those who are stuck in their ways tend to view new options in life as threatening, or an infringement upon their liberties, wants, and needs. It doesn't have to be that way, but old dietary habits die hard.

With better education and awareness of edible insects, modern society could make a shift in its dietary ideology. Insect cuisine could find a niche in restaurants and kitchens everywhere. This change has to start here, in our culture, where our powerful influence and industry could make this valuable food source a healthy staple for worldwide mass distribution. A common sense diet with the inclusion of insects should be no more fanciful than the processed garbage food we pledge allegiance to with our hard earned dollars. Our attitudes toward entomophagy can have a direct affect on the world, and it's food shortage problems. It will be difficult for us to invite insects into our food pyramid without some preconceived paranoia. The biggest obstacle to making a difference, is to find a way to face down our misguided phobia of insects.




Citation Sources

"Eco-Friendly Protein: Edible Bugs." WebEcoist 07/07/2009: n. pag. Web. 28 Apr 2010. .

"Are insects used to make food coloring?." boston.com(The Boston Globe) 03/06/2006: n. pag. Web. 28 Apr 2010. .

Adams, Mike. "Ground up beetles found in yogurt -- carmine serves as insect-based food coloring ingredient." NaturalNews.com 10/31/2004: n. pag. Web. 28 Apr 2010. .

Ramos-Elorduy, Julieta. "Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico, and some measure to preserve them." Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2006): n. pag. Web. 1 May 2010. .

DeFoliart, Gene. "Insects as Human Food." Crop Protection 11. (2006): 395-399. Web. 2 May 2010. .

Price, Aletheia. "EATING BUGS!." http://eatbug.com/ n. pag. Web. 2 May 2010. .

"Arthropod Information." http://insected.arizona.edu 1997: n. pag. Web. 2 May 2010. .

"Issue 88: From Jordan's Desk: Bugs in Food--Beetle Juice, Anyone? ." extraordinaryhealth.com 2010: n. pag. Web. 2 May 2010. .

Bryant, Charles W. "How can I tell if a bug is edible?." 14 April 2008. HowStuffWorks.com. 02 May 2010.

Bassett, Thomas J., and Alex Winter-Nelson. The Atlas of World Hunger. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.

Phillips, Joel, and Wendell Burkholder. "Allergies Related to Food Insect Production and Consumption." Food Insects Newsletter 8.2 (1995): n. pag. Web. 3 May 2010. .

Elson, Ashleigh. "Livestock of the future: insects??." Radio Netherlands Worldwide (rnw.nl) 04/12/2010: n. pag. Web. 3 May 2010. .

DeFoliart, Gene. "They Ate What? (Catching up on the magazines)." Food Insects Newsletter 4.3 (1991): 7. Web. 3 May 2010. .

Ogg, Barb. "Insect Flavors of the Month ." NEBLINE Newsletter 2009: n. pag. Web. 4 May 2010. .

Final Assignment; Reflection

English 1010
Haley Stokes
01/24/2010

“Welcome Home”


Last December I bought a new home. The price was low for a five bedroom house. I felt fortunate! The owner was so eager to sell, that even he payed for a new roof and electrical work. Of course there would be a few things that needed to be fixed. The house had been vacant for over a year, or so I thought.

My new neighborhood is on a little avenue just off of State Street. At first we had reservations about moving into a home so close to such a busy road. There are cheap motels, tattoo parlors and head shops along State. It's a little seedy. But, once you pull into our road, it's nice and quiet. The houses are well kept with cute yards. The neighbors are friendly. Several houses lay vacant here, but they're not run down or shabby. Having lived downtown in bustling areas most of my adult life, it felt nice to have a peaceful place to soon call home.

Before closing on the house, I’d occasionally check on it like a stalker. I would walk the yard, leaving my tracks in the crusty snow. I'd peer in the windows, and imagine how I’d decorate. One thing I always noticed; the door on the back of the garage was ajar upon every visit. The basement door was often left unlocked too. I thought we just had an absent minded handyman coming and going.

After closing on a house, It's not officially your property until you have the title. My wife and I took this time to start painting rooms. The realtor said that would be okay, as long as we didn't move anything into the house.

We bought a used hot tub and stuffed it in the garage (Its not the house, right?). I put a padlock on the door just in case anyone got ideas about taking it. You know how hot tub thieves can be.

The morning before the house was officially ours, a strange thing happened. My brother in law, Jay, who is moving in with us, sent me a text. “Someone has broken into the house.”

I rushed to the new place to inspect the damage. The basement door at the back of the house had been kicked in. There was a dirty shoe print right where the deadbolt was caved in on the door. I was petrified, imagining the place would be wrecked. Jay tells me the house is clear, and everything is intact. Two steps in, we find the first clue. Its a cigarette butt, smoked down to the filter.

Jay is a smoker. I asked him if he knew the brand of the cigarette by the butt. When you’re broke you buy generic. If you have money, you smoke a premium brand. As a seasoned smoker, he knows the tobacco spectrum.

After close inspection, Jay says, “It is a Gold Coast cigarette. Very cheap."

This was a clue. We now had a detail for criminal profiling. A person who buys cheap cigarettes broke into our vacant house and smoked one upon entering. My paranoid mind starts eliminating suspects from the top. The cheap cigarette ruled out a mobster or a ninja.

Nothing was missing. The tools and ladder were still in place. The c.d. player and ipod dock were still right where we left them. This ruled out a burglar.

This person had no problem breaking and entering, yet didn't vandalize the interior. We left buckets of paint and brushes out in the open, and they went untouched. This ruled out a juvenile delinquent on a damage spree.

In the master bedroom, I found another clue. A second cigarette butt of the same brand lay on the floor. It had blood on it. Gross! I carefully put it in a ziplock baggie. At least we didn't find blood anywhere else. This room has a door leading back outside from the upstairs floor, which was unlocked. This must have been our intruder's exit point.

A person broke in and did nothing! I was angry, afraid, amused, and perplexed all at once. My inner detective was called back into action when our realtor advised us not to call the police. She told us we couldn't file a police report on a house that “technically” wasn't ours yet.

I searched the grounds for more clues to present to the police later. So far I only had a shoe print and two cigarette butts (one bloodied). At the garage door, however, I found a fourth clue. Dirty shoe prints below the padlock. Someone tried to get into the garage. They were unsuccessful, so they crossed the yard, went to the basement, and found an easier door to kick in. This house had been vacant for over a year. It is freezing outside. Was this break-in the work of a mad squatter? All of those open garage doors? The occasional unlocked house? I now had a meaningless conclusion that made me feel no more secure than a bashed in door.

In the meantime, we barricaded the vulnerable basement entry way. From inside, we jammed a few boards and a metal pole up against the back of the door. On the outside of the door we hung a smiley-faced snow man wreathe with several bells on it. I hauled our huge blue recycling can down the stairwell and put it in front of the door. Back on the inside, I installed not one, but two dollar store alarms that make an annoying high pitch squeal when set off. By the time I was done, I felt I'd created an impenetrable break-in obstacle course. I'd have liked to see somebody haul that monstrous can on wheels back up all of those steps, and try to kick that door in again without waking up the neighborhood!

Later that afternoon, our realtor called us with good news. The house was officially ours. Since the break-in occurred before we had the title, the seller agreed to replace the broken door. We could now call the police to investigate.

When the officer arrived, I gave him a tour of the crime scene. I knew he wouldn’t take fingerprints, but what about cigarette butts? Shoe prints? A DNA sample? No. I told him the conclusion I'd come to about the perpetrator and he agreed with my assessment. He told us our house flaunted clues of vacancy. It was winter, and the sidewalks were not shoveled. The porch lights weren't on, and there was a for sale sign stabbed in my front yard. On top of that, there are 3 other vacant houses and a motel between my new home and a busy state road. This house was ripe for a break-in under those conditions.

The officer told us all about our new neighborhood, and what to expect from vagrants and traveling hookers who populate the area every summer.

Before he left, he took a long look at our newly painted front room. He had the confident posture of a hardened cop and a dead serious look in his eyes. I thought he was going to give us other dire warnings.

“I like the paint colors you chose” he said. “The brown of the accent wall really brings the room together”

“There’s a lot you can do with your house.” he continued. “Have you thought about vinyl lettering? You could put a phrase on the wall. I do all the decorating at my house. My wife isn’t good with that sort of thing.”

The home deco talk went on for 10 minutes, and was weird enough to distract me from an otherwise harrowing day. The officer had all kinds of advice. Unfortunately, none had to do with feeling better about the fact that any given person may break into any given space, and do whatever they can get away with, given the opportunity.

The break-in was a stressful situation, but I was lucky enough to have been host to a gentleman intruder of sorts. I imagine a haggard, cold, shutout breaking into his old squatting grounds one last time. He had a couple of smokes and got some rest. Maybe he looked at our accent wall and wished us well by not urinating on our bedroom floor. He was thoughtful in his own way, I suppose. Though he never came back, he will be the faceless person I think of when I dare lay out my welcome mat.

Final Assignment; Observation

Edward Perry
English 1010
Haley Stokes
1/31/2010

1010 Observation Final Assignment; “A Shopping Trip”

I dread grocery shopping. I get lost If I don't come prepared with a short list to work from. I fall victim to stimulus overkill. It's hard for me to be in a market for more than 20 minutes without rushing the check-out, whether I have all the items I need or not. My wife, on the other hand, has great browsing focus. It is sadistic how much time she can spend sifting through the produce aisle. I do have an appreciation for this kind of patience. It is something I finally pick up and test at a bizarre grocery outlet.

My wife and I recently moved into a new house. We needed to go shopping to stock up our empty kitchen. Because of this, I knew I was in for the long haul. We decide to go down the street to the neighborhood Reams store. The winter pollution cast it's haze on our drive. I feel uneasy when we pull into the parking lot, but not about shopping this time. This store is dingy and glum.

Greeting us at the front of the parking lot is a tall, green, cross shaped sign. A black digital screen rests like a dirty crown atop this monolith with beady, red, words flashing daily specials. Shambling atop the sign is a large consortium of dour pigeons. A feculent white crust stains their perch. On the side of the sign is the faded silhouette of a kilted Scotsman. It is evident that no one has cared to repaint this mascot within the last few decades. By the looks of this place, I doubt there's anyone in charge of upkeep here at all.

Between parking stalls, there are dirty black snow drifts with aluminum cans protruding like fossilized bones. Litter is strewn across the blacktop lot. Behind the cinder block wall to the south, dead winter trees pose with old plastic shopping bags hanging from their veinous branches. They move like sick lungs in the gray smog.

I dare myself forward as we approach the store. Wood framed, hand painted ads stretch along the yellowed brick exterior. They are protected by chicken wire. What are they being protected from? Certainly not the elements! On a country store the mesh covering might be a quaint aesthetic touch. Here, it looks like ghetto resignation.

We pass through the front doors. The produce aisle is to the immediate right, and is separate from the rest of the store. You have to pass through it to get to the main shopping area. This makes me feel like I'm being corralled in with all of the other shoppers.

To stay positive, I try my best to help my wife bag vegetables and fruit so we can move on as fast as possible. I learn how to choose a good pineapple. They should be golden yellow, and less firm towards the base. The leaves atop are not a good indicator of freshness, since pineapples don't grow fresh anywhere near here at this time of year. Maybe my attention span can live through what is likely to be an hour long ordeal if I observe, and learn more about the product selection. For that, I'll need to be able to withstand the droves of people crowding the narrow aisles.

The store is lost in another time, with its acoustic ceiling tiles and buzzing fluorescent lights. No one in this store seems happy at all. I smile at people as I pass their aisle obstructing carts, only to get crusty looks and mean glares in return. They are making up for all the smiles and stylishness of organic food stores and metro-marts that I'm accustom to. These grouchy shoppers are doing their part to balance the grocery universe. They must hate shopping as much as I do.

The more I maintain my focus, the more I see the strange array of food items from which to choose. I start with pickled pigs' feet. I see these, and know they are not uncommon. But, I observe them up close. They float gracefully in shatter-proof jars with clean white lids. The soft pink skin segments wrap around bone and hooves. They levitate in red spices. Its like a satanic snow globe made by Charles Manson. I pull one of these jars from the shelf and show it to my wife. She turns away and gets dizzy for a moment.

“That made me feel nauseous!”, she says in disgust. I don't doubt it. She's a vegan, and looks sea sick for a moment. I feel bad. Reams is now an unsteady ship.

“Sorry.” I say. “I just wanted you to see this. Its so strange.” I wasn't about to show her the seasoned pork rinds in brine now. They looked like carved strips of bleached rubber, but she'll never see them, as she goes off to find cake mix. I continue looking for entertaining food packaging.

Next I find cans that claim in bold print to contain a "whole chicken", in broth, without giblets. A whole chicken! The cans seems smallish. They must be a small chickens. Still, I doubt the claim. How can a chicken be whole without its giblets!

Now I'm so keen on observing this place and its contents, that I want to take notes. I find my wife, who is kind enough to lend me her address book and pen.

Down the aisle I find 'California Girl Sardines', which feature a bikini clad female on a surf board left of the food title. To the right is a fish which is holding an enormous tomato slice curled tightly in its tail. Students jokingly made logos like this in my old high school commercial art class. At least I thought they were joking.

I then come across “Danish Wedding Cookies” by Keebler. These are not odd, but their title clues me in to why I've only seen these hard, white, powdered cookies at weddings. Their primary purpose must be for decoration. They are made to compliment wedding dresses and white tablecloths. The box is pink with an image of the cookies on front, but the Keebler elf is nowhere to be found on the package. Does he not endorse these? He's on all of the other Keebler cookie items!

On aisle 14 there is a sign that advertises “refridgerated dough”. Yeah, that's a typo on an aisle sign. That could've been anybody's mistake. Its a character trait of the store. I now feel fine being here, taking my notes. Living in the bad side of town, I'll have to get used to it. The only problem now, is that other people are watching me take my notes, especially near the meat counter. As I catalog strange animal body parts at the deli, people start to rubber neck. Some people are giving me disturbed looks. I was not trying to take sneaky notes, but I wasn't flaunting a quill pen either. My observations are now not natural in the flow of groceryland.

When you observe, you change what you are observing.

I try to hurry my scribblings as green smocked employees and leery shoppers eye me. It's time to go. My wife has been eager to leave for a while now. I got all of the information I didn't know I was coming for. I even came up with scenarios for certain observations. For example, I figured that a person, if they wanted to, could make a very grotesque monster from the hermetically sealed variety of meats. Hey, all the parts are there! From the cookie aisle, who knows? I didn't check into it enough.

My wife and I met outside of the store. It's ironic that she was not amused by how much time I kept us there. The gray sky was dimming fast. Several feral cats played in the trees outside. Now the trees seemed endearing. The old hung shopping bags still breathed in and out as we drove away. Maybe next time I come here, I'll hang up one of my own.