Let Them Eat Bugs: Bugapalooza 2018

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Don’t be deceived by the fact that it is planned for March 31 (aka, April Fool’s Eve). The first annual Bugapalooza bug festival is real and it is coming to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Odditorium, in Times Square.

Emphasizing that 80% of the world’s population eats insects as a regular part of its diet, the Bugapalooza is designed to shatter “myths, fears, and taboos surrounding these delicious, protein-filled critters.”

Sponsored jointly by the New York Adventure Club and Chef Joseph Yoon of Brooklyn Bugs, the entomological event will feature six dishes in which bugs are paired with familiar comfort foods. Think grilled cheese and cricket bites and chocolate chip cookies. Yum, no?

For an additional fee over the base ticket, you can upgrade to the King Scorpion tier, which provides access to four “higher-end bug bites with equally yummy ‘normal’ food'” (their words).

Bugapalooza will run from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets may be purchased here and start at $29 (for the fainthearted — no food) up to $69 for the aforementioned King Scorpion tasting. An additional $30 will buy you access to unlimited beer and wine from an open bar. (Skip this add-on at your own peril.)

Tasting Bugs With Chef Joseph Yoon

Insects are everywhere, so why not on your dinner plate? Last weekend, tons of people in New York City attended Brooklyn Bugs, a culinary festival celebrating entomophagy (the eating of insects). We're with the chef Joseph Yoon, who organized the event, to try some tasty dishes with crickets, worms, ants and more, and to learn about the bug-eating movement in the United States. Comment with your questions, and NYT reporters Nicholas St. Fleur and Ken Chang will answer some.

Posted by The New York Times – Science on Friday, September 8, 2017

Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, 234 W. 42nd Street

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