PEORIA MAGAZINE August 2022

W O R D C O U N T

‘BUGS FOR BREAKFAST’ A Q&A with author Mary Boone

Peoria Magazine (PM): Please tell us what your latest book, Bugs for Breakfast, is all about. Mary Boone (MB): Bugs for Breakfast is about entomophagy – the practice of eating insects for nourishment. But it’s also about world cultures, history, sustainability, water scarcity, agriculture, nutrition and innovation. I hope it’s the kind of book that encourages readers to think about what they’re eating and why they’re eating it. PM: What motivated you to start researching bugs as a food source? MB: About eight years ago, my daughter and I traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia. We promised each other we’d try new things while we were there. One of the many “new things” I tried was a kabob made of roasted grasshoppers and silkworms. Initially I chalked it up as a “one and done” kind of experience. But after I’d been back home for a couple weeks, I started thinking about the fact that there are people all over the world who are eating bugs on a reg ular basis and I wanted to know more. Who was eating them? Why were they eating them? What were they eating? I’ve always been fascinated by re search, so every fact I uncovered led

PM: Several reviews for Bugs for Breakfast were written by adults who enjoyed the book themselves before sharing it with children. Why do you think adults find it so appealing? MB: I think the book has appeal for adults because entomophagy isn’t a topic most of us know much about. The nutrition aspect is definitely more interesting to adults than kids, but I think learning about other cultures and howwemight help the planet are pretty universal desires. PM: Why did you decide to focus on writing nonfiction for young adults? MB: Writing for children is something I’ve wanted to do as long as I can remember. I always thought I’d write fiction, but I learned pretty quickly that I’m much better with facts than making things up. Blame my journalism background, I guess. I love writing the kinds of books that surprise readers. I want them to read my books and run home to tell their families, “You’re not going to believe what I learned today!” PM: You currently live in Tacoma, Washington, but central Illinois was your homewhen youwrote for the Peoria Journal Star. How did your time here shape you as an author and a person?

to 10 more questions. Heck, in the be ginning I didn’t even know there was a word for the practice of eating bugs and I had no idea that one out of ev ery four people on the planet is eating them on a regular basis. PM: Your book provides recipes for readers to follow. Which one is your favorite and how did you discover it? MB: I’m a big fan of cricket powder, which is a mild-tasting powder made from milled roasted crickets. Just one tablespoon of cricket powder contains about 40 calories and 5 grams of protein, plus you don’t see the insects’ actual legs and wings, which made it much easier for me to work into recipes my family would eat. You can substitute cricket powder for 10 percent to 20 percent of the flour in most recipes (it doesn’t contain gluten, so beyond 20 percent and you start messing with the dough’s ability to stretch and bond). I started out experimenting with recipes my family already loved, every thing from pizza dough to chocolate chip cookies. My favorite recipe in the book is probably my BUG-anna Bread recipe. It’s a recipe I’ve used for years, but it’s a little healthier thanks to a cricket powder substitution.

80 AUGUST 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE