Southwest Open School teacher Jeff Sand's class "Bugged: How Insects Changed History" is not for the squeamish.
The course fulfills English and world history credits for the 18 students enrolled, and they learn and write about the nutritional value of bugs throughout history.
But on Wednesday came the true test - creating culinary perfection. Well, perfection if you don't mind eating a few bugs.
The students worked together to make cookies, cupcakes, jalapeño poppers, stir fry, pizza and snack mix - all including a common ingredient - lots and lots of bugs. On Thursday, Oct. 22, a buffet table was lined with the creations in the afternoon.
What looked like chocolate sprinkles on the cupcakes were actually ant larvae, and the cookies were made with cricket flour. Candies were made with grasshoppers swathed in chocolate. Jalapeño poppers included jalapeños, cheese and bacon, but also included water beetles. A pizza was topped with a rhino beetle.
Justin Massey, 15, couldn't wait to eat the chocolate-covered scorpion.
"Crunchy," he said.
Massey is one of the more adventurous in the class. He said he tried nearly all the bugs, which had been ordered online.
"We have a hard time getting him not to eat them all," Sand said.
Massey said the crickets tasted salty, and the grasshoppers were crunchy.
"Crickets have a higher percentage of protein than ground beef," Massey said. "And they have even used bees to help treat arthritis."
Sand told a group of students that bug food isn't really that bad if you don't think about it.
"Don't look them in the eye," he cautioned those willing to try the creations, and surprisingly lots of students did.
Michael Finley, 15, said he enjoys the class.
"We don't just learn about bugs, we eat them," he said.
Nick Martinez, 18, agreed.
"Other cultures do eat bugs," he said. "So there is nothing wrong with it."
Martinez later called dibs on a chocolate-covered water beetle.
Carissa Williams, 14, wasn't so sure.
"I've eaten a cricket, that's as far as I will go," she said.
Sand said there are companies in the United States using cricket powder in protein bars.
"Eighty percent of the world's population eats bugs in some form or another," Sand said.
Bugs have as much vitamin B-12 as salmon.
The students had to write a persuasive essay about eating bugs.
"A lot of the kids took the angle that people should eat bugs because of the health benefits and the fact that production is easier on the environment," Sand said. "Eating bugs is part of our future."
Sand also said that there is evidence that hunters and gathers may have utilized bugs.
Either way, Kenna McGrath would have none of it.
"No bugs at all. No. It's so gross," she said.
To chants of his name, Walter Parker, 17, stuffed a slice of pizza into his mouth, on top of it, a water beetle that was at least 3 inches long.
"It tasted like chicken, but a lot crunchier," he said.
He chewed and chewed and chewed some more.
"I had to do it. Everyone was cheering me on."
