{"id":281,"date":"2014-02-02T20:58:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T20:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/a-side-of-bee-larva-with-your-afternoon-coffee\/"},"modified":"2022-02-17T17:49:40","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:49:40","slug":"a-side-of-bee-larva-with-your-afternoon-coffee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/a-side-of-bee-larva-with-your-afternoon-coffee\/","title":{"rendered":"A side of bee larva with your afternoon coffee?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Edith Salminen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bee larvae straight from our freezer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When a fellow researcher here at the Lab asks me whether I\u2019d like to give him a hand doing field work for his thesis, meaning feeding random Copenhageners bee larva soup, I say \u201cJa tak!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could there possibly be a better way to spend an afternoon?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonas Astrup Pedersen is the Larva-man. Now an almost-graduated Master in Food Science and Technology at University of Copenhagen, Jonas has been in and out of this rocking houseboat for as long as some of the oldest ferments downstairs. He is passionate about sensory analysis and experimentation, coffee and sourdough bread \u2013 really everything gastronomy. Being one of the only Danes on board, Jonas has been a wanted man these days, requested to address various food-related topics on Danish national TV and radio. Blood and gluten are some of the more recent ones. When he\u2019s not busy doing public appearances that is, Jonas is keen on discovering how neophobic \u2013 or neophilic \u2013 Danes are in their foodways. Ever since November, I\u2019ve been sitting across from him at the Lab watching him meticulously busting his brain for his master\u2019s thesis on unravelling how people perceive and accept novel foods, using bee larvae<\/a> as a case study.  The Lab for him \u2013 as for us all \u2013 is both his playground and safe-zone for quirky and delicious experimentation. Stepping out from this inspiring and encouraging cradle can sometimes get rather knotty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Almost ready for service.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we manage to get 70 people to try the soup today, that would be great,\u201d he says with his characteristic grin, as we start prepping<\/a> the vegetable and bee larva soup in the morning for our first service. It says \u2018VISIBLE LARVAE\u2019, \u2018INVISIBLE LARVAE\u2019, \u2018NO LARVAE\u2019 on a sheet of paper next to the cutting board on the stainless steel island. Three soups, one base recipe with three slightly different variations. Will people want to see the larvae as they savour the soup, or is ignorance bliss? Will the bee larva flavour be a sought-after twist to a perfectly acceptable but otherwise banal veggie soup? Let\u2019s see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now, two months into my internship at the Lab, I\u2019ve learned to recognize the very distinctive smell and flavour of the fatty little creatures: nutty and buttery, sometimes even mushroomy, and to me much like this ubiquitous Swedish \u201cliver\u201d pat\u00e9 that comes in a tube (super addictive). I\u2019ve only had them straight up deep frozen and in Jonas\u2019 soup, but Josh describes fresh and alive bee larvae as something close to fish roe in texture, very delicate and \u201cfucking delicious\u201d in flavour. Listening to Josh\u2019s description, I got the oddest urge to pop one of those alive babies in my mouth. Deranged? Totally, but also far from it. Talking about how bee larvae burst against one\u2019s palate<\/a>\u2026 I can but smile, stir the soup and see how the tasty little suckers float around in creamy veg stock together with carrots, celeriac, leek and onions. The whole boat smells of saut\u00e9ed bee larvae. Yup, very distinctively bee larvae indeed. And we love it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Off to the larva-mobile!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Larva-man has chosen to do his guerrilla soup tasting at three different locations in order to reach the maximum variety of people. This excites me. Not only do I get to see Copenhagen\u2019s many sides, but I\u2019ll also get the chance to observe different people accepting or refusing insects as an edible food item. The socio-anthropologist in me is on alert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jonas working his charm on one of our first guests at Spinderiet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First up, a suburban square by Spinderiet mall in Valby, a 15 minute bike ride away from the centre of Copenhagen. Valby is a kind of grudgy neighbourhood further west from the hipster central Vesterbro. Second stop, the humongous shopping centre Field\u2019s erected in the middle of nowhere, on a field, hence the (not very original) name. At Field\u2019s you get all kinds of people, students, teenagers, families, locals and foreigners: a mish-mash of people living in Copenhagen for different reasons. Last stop, Torvehallerne right by N\u00f8rreport station. This bourgeois-boh\u00e8me<\/em> indoor market is where the well-off Copenhageners buy their (very expensive) food. It\u2019s also a favourite amongst tourists. Of all three locations this is surely the most foodie-like of them. Our presumption is that the higher socio-economical status might correlate to an increase of the acceptance of our experiment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are places where we\u2019ll find normal<\/em> people,\u201d Jonas explains. \u201cNormal people\u201d are a rare breed here at the Lab where the next person stepping on board this mad, floating research centre is probably somehow loonier than the previous one. We often forget about \u201cthose other types of people\u201d who might not, with immense appetite and lust for umami, attack a container filled with more or less mashed and rotten edibles or, for that matter, a fragrant bowl of bee larva soup. We didn’t really discuss this potential challenge beforehand, but we certainly expected to be confronted with it to varying degrees in the different locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonas and I head to the first location right after lunchtime, our car loaded up with our three steaming soup pots. I wonder how many Danes will choose a side of larvae over a kanelsnurrer<\/em> with their afternoon coffee? As my Danish is not quite there yet, I told Jonas I\u2019d do the people hunting and lure them in for him to feed them larva soup. Game on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Click through the photos below of some of our intrepid participants)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spinderiet. We definitely overestimated people\u2019s will and courage in trying novel foods. \u201cNo thanks, I\u2019ve got a chewing gum in my mouth\u201d, \u201cI just ate\u201d, \u201cI\u2019m vegan\u201d, \u201cWhy would I eat bugs\u201d, \u201cAre you crazy\u201d, \u201c I have no time for such nonsense\u201d, \u201cNo time, sorry\u201d, \u201cOh no, insects, no, no, I thought it was free coffee\u201d, \u201cNo thanks, I\u2019ve got a girlfriend\u201d were some of the reactions I got approaching our potential targets. At the Valby mall women especially did not like the idea of a bee larva soup d\u00e9gustation<\/em> on this crisp winter afternoon. On the other hand when I, as a woman, challenged young and middle-aged men to try Jonas\u2019 soup, asking them if they\u2019re \u201cman enough\u201d, they obviously couldn\u2019t say no. It proved to be a good strategy and we got a decent number of hits with this method. Nevertheless, my utmost respect goes out to a mother of two boys, I\u2019m guessing a 5- and a 9-year-old, who didn\u2019t hesitate having a fun and educational pit-stop at Jonas\u2019 soup shack. What a cool mum! And the boys loved it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Field\u2019s. Damn, even harder than the previous location. People at Field\u2019s were on autopilot, wired to their smartphones, impossible to be reached and couldn\u2019t be bothered to take part in our wacky arthropodan experiment. It seemed as though the \u201cnormal people\u201d at Field\u2019s that cold and grey afternoon had no interest in \u201cnew foods\u201d, and as a matter of fact, using those two words in the first sentence of approach was not the way to go. Enquiring \u201cHave you ever eaten insects before?\u201d had a slightly better effect, but still didn\u2019t do the trick. Frustrated, we had to face the obvious: people were just more neophobic in this part of town. Third time\u2019s the charm, we thought. However well one prepares for such fieldwork, trying to reach out to a maximum number of people across the maximum range of a crowd is a real Rubik\u2019s cube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Lab bike parked at Torvehallerne.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Torvehallerne. \u201cFoodies\u201d and gourmands pilgrimage here for quality food. Also a lot of tourists come here to savour the \u201cchic and pure\u201d taste of Copenhagen \u2013 the perfect crowd for our fieldwork. Of course, it had to be the coldest day so far this winter. Typical. With icy wind and snow freezing to the core, we had our doubts about how well it could go. We served the soup out of our very cool Lab bike right outside the entrance to the market. Whether it was the weather or the slow Monday, we didn\u2019t have the same stamina in our approach. However, to our happy surprise, people actually came to us. The \u2018Nordic Food Lab\u2019-branded bike surely helped in attracting curious eaters. Not only did people want to try the soups, but they were keen on learning more about insects as food. We had the privilege of feeding an Austrian noma chef, a professor of landscape architecture (and his gorgeous 1 year old Samoyed doggie too), a group of business school exchange students from Australia, just to name a few. All in all, Torvehallerne was the most fruitful of the three locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Don\u2019t) Stop bugging me<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Close to a hundred people accepted the challenge of tasting Jonas\u2019 bee larva special, keen on trying a novel ingredient with potential for expanding cuisine. Unfortunately, at least the same amount, if not more, bluntly declined. For some reason, men were more prone to savour the soup than women were.  An observation that made us hopeful was that kids and teenagers seemed more curious and keen to eat the larvae. Could it be they are more open and have a different attitude to the future, or just a battle of gaining coolness points by doing something outrageous? Let\u2019s be positive and go with the first idea. Quite a few elderly people proved to be gutsy too, even though most were hard to convince at first. They were definitely more open to spare us ten minutes out of their busy schedules than others. Yet if we only managed to hold people’s interest while presenting our motivation in a few sentences, it opened up a window in most people\u2019s minds for what they might consider food. It also proved easier to attract couples or small groups. Peer pressure and\/or encouragement from loved ones also seemed to make it easier to accept and grasp what we were trying to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Normal people” at Field’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
(from R to L) Me, Jonas, and one of our most enthusiastic participants at Torvehallerne. Thanks for the photo, Alex!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most importantly, these taste experiments in the field made us reflect on how crucial it is to not forget about all the \u201cnormal people\u201d out there. Whether it\u2019s about them having different tastes or a less-strong attraction to the new and unusual compared to the people in our immediate surroundings is a big question worth thinking about. What is usual here at the Lab is often weird and disgusting for many folks out there. Doing what we do is exciting and fun, at times both dippy and inspiring \u2013 but if we fail to reach out and convince others unlike us to at least give some of these foods a try, what is the point in the long run? After all, our ultimate aim is to share our food and ideas with everyone, not just preaching to the choir or worse, fuelling a load of foodie onanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the car after our third and last guerrilla soup run, we drove in silence. I think both Jonas and I had a lot on our minds, many impressions and many questions without simple or straightforward answers. As we parked the car outside the Larva-cave, we glanced at each other and smiled. We both knew\u2026 we\u2019re lucky to be where we are and this experience was a much needed reality check. We need reminders of the fact that there\u2019s a whole world out there to reach in order to make people look at bugs \u2013 or seaweed, or microbes, or any other neglected or underutilised ingredient \u2013 and go, \u201cYum, I\u2019ll have that<\/em> for lunch.” For us, it is the kick we need to give all of this madness a real purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Edith Salminen When a fellow researcher here at the Lab asks me whether I\u2019d like to give him a hand doing field work for his thesis, meaning feeding random Copenhageners bee larva soup, I say \u201cJa tak!\u201d  Could there possibly be a better way to spend an afternoon? Jonas Astrup Pedersen is the Larva-man. Now an almost-graduated Master in Food Science and Technology at University of Copenhagen, Jonas has been in and out of this rocking houseboat for as long as some of the oldest ferments downstairs. He is passionate about sensory analysis and experimentation, coffee and sourdough bread \u2013 really everything gastronomy. Being one of the only Danes on board, Jonas has been a wanted man these days, requested to address various food-related topics on Danish national TV and radio. Blood and gluten are some of the more recent ones. When he\u2019s not busy doing public appearances that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":""},"post_excerpt_stackable":"

by Edith Salminen Bee larvae straight from our freezer. When a fellow researcher here at the Lab asks me whether I\u2019d like to give him a hand doing field work for his thesis, meaning feeding random Copenhageners bee larva soup, I say \u201cJa tak!\u201d  Could there possibly be a better way to spend an afternoon? Jonas Astrup Pedersen is the Larva-man. Now an almost-graduated Master in Food Science and Technology at University of Copenhagen, Jonas has been in and out of this rocking houseboat for as long as some of the oldest ferments downstairs. He is passionate about sensory analysis…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Uncategorized<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Nordic Food Lab","url":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/blog\/author\/nordic-food-lab\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}