(Courtesy: brittskibear/TikTok)
A Canadian woman has shocked the internet for eating fish flies and calling them a “delicious snack.”
The content creator from Gimli, Manitoba sparked online concerns for putting the long-tailed insect into her mouth and seemed to pleasantly enjoy it on video.
The Brandon Gonez Show contacted an entomologist named Dr. Jason Gibbs from the University of Manitoba to ask if it’s safe to indulge.
“Fishflies are eaten by a number of different cultures across the world. You can eat them raw (hold them by the wings and eat the rest), or you can dry them and use them in food preparations. They are high in protein, low in fat. So, mayflies would be a relatively healthy addition to a balanced diet,” Gibbs said in an email on July 30.
He added fish flies are known as mayflies and refer to members of the Ephemeroptera group of insects and are very abundant during the summer season. In addition, the insects emerge en masse to mate when water temperatures are ideal.
In another TikTok video shared by the content creator, she updated people on how many fish flies are in Gimli right now and even steps on them so listeners can hear the loud crunching noises.
Gibbs explained some of the benefits of eating the insect.
“Mayflies have short lifespans, so depending on the timing and scale of human consumption eating them would have varying levels of environmental impact,” Gibbs said.
“Since insects have relatively short life spans, they are a relatively sustainable and ethical food source. It would actually help us meet a lot of our goals on sustainability and climate change if we started eating insects,” Gibbs added.
Furthermore, Dr. Gibbs warns people to make sure they don’t have allergies to insect cuticle before chomping down on the bugs.
