Go Ask Dad: Gryllus campestris, salt-and-vinegar-flavored
We took our kids to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, and there were a million, kajillion stories not only in the exquisite exhibits but also living in the people of all ages who were being inspired and awed everywhere I happened to look. It is a beautiful planet, so vast and complex that the more we know, the more there is to discover. This is also like our closest relationships with our most beloved people.
At this museum, my eldest son, usually the more cautious of my three kids, discovered a package of edible crickets for sale in the gift shop and, to my surprise, insisted that we purchase this snack and sample in the cafe. I wondered if he would actually go through with it. I mean, you could see the cricket's tiny, beady eyes starting back at you! But true to his word, he was the first to try these salt-and-vinegar-flavored insects, head and all, and declared they tasted like potato chips!
While browsing the exhibits and watching a 3-D film, I learned about kelp that grows two feet a day, about six-foot tubes of jelly that live miles beneath the ocean, and that scientists have proven that a T-Rex has more in common with a modern rooster than a crocodile. (As an aside, I have met a fierce rooster who was fittingly named Prince.) These things are all incredible.
But I most enjoyed conducting a little field research into my own brood, each child a marvelous and mysterious life form, as are we all. Sometimes, it takes a little openness to inquiry and a willingness to get out of my comfort zone, i.e., my usual routine and dietary preferences.
Though each member of our family sampled a cricket, we saved enough specimens so that each child could take one to school and study the effect on their peers. Got to love science!
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of Little Big Moments, a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems. Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.
