San Antonio, TX:
October 15, 2018 – As part of the festivities celebrating the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival, the San Antonio Botanical Garden is partnering with Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service to host the
Incredible Edible Insect Event
on
Saturday, October 20 from 10am-2pm
at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Learn about entomophagy (the practice of eating insects) and enjoy small bite insect-based food samples and family activities including:
- Cricket Races
- Painting with cochineal
- Face painting
- Planting for Pollinator talk with horticulturist David Rodriguez from Texas A&M AgriLife at 1:30pm.
Discover the benefits of edible insects and how they can play a major role in food and feed security. “Some edible insects have more protein than beef, more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk, and more fiber than green beans,” says Robert Nathan Allen, Founder of Little Herds. Edible insect farming is sustainable and environmentally sound utilizing less land, plus greenhouse gas emissions are considerably lower compared to livestock production.
The Incredible Edible Insect Event is included with general admission ($12-9).
This event is in partnership with the Monarch Butterfly & Pollinator Festival and San Antonio Water System, and is generously supported by a grant from Andeavor.
Four-course Insect Tasting
10:30am & 12:00pm
$25 per adult, $10 per child
Those eager to sink their teeth into creepy crawler goodness can register for a Four-course Insect Tasting! Local chefs will serve a memorable tasting while enlightening visitors about the sustainability and high protein power of insects. Culinary guests include:
Chef Dave Terrazas,
San Antonio Botanical Garden Culinary and Wellness Specialist
Cooking with crickets from Aspire Food Group
Chef Stephen Poprocki
Cooking with Oaxacan
chapulines
(grasshoppers) from Merci Mercado
Chef Joshua Schwenke
Cooking with bee drone larvae from Two Hives Honey
Chef Michael Grimes
Cooking with Silk Worms
The program will include a 4 course insect tasting menu and an Entomophagy talk with guest speakers, Robert Nathan Allen, Founder of
Little Herds,
and Molly Keck, Integrated Pest Management Program Specialist with Texas A&M Extension Service.
Potential Allergy: Insects may cause allergic reactions in people allergic to shellfish, seafood, or dust.
For more information or to register, please visit
About the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival:
The Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival is a volunteer collaboration of private sector companies, government and nonprofit agencies, and devoted volunteers organized by the Texas Butterfly Ranch, a website devoted to pollinator advocacy. More than 10,000 people attended the 2017 Festival, which unfolded over three days and included half a dozen events. Goals of the Festival: raise awareness and appreciation of the wildlife pollinators that make one of every three bites of our food possible, underscore our inherent interconnectedness with Mexico and Canada, encourage the use of native nectar and host plants in gardens and landscapes, and reinforce San Antonio’s strategic role in the Monarchs’ annual migration as the First Monarch Butterfly Champion City in the nation.
http://texasbutterflyranch.com/festival/
About the San Antonio Botanical Garden
The San Antonio Botanical Garden features 38 acres of nature spaces located deep in the heart of San Antonio.
Admission to the San Antonio Botanical Garden is $12 adults; $10 students, seniors, military; $9 children age 3-13. The Botanical Garden is open year-round except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. For more information, please call 210-536-1400 or visit
www.sabot.org
###
‌ 
‌ 
‌