Australia: "Bon Appetit" says French Chef

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

France, the land that gave us gastronomic deliciaces whereby the French have historically used everything they find and call it French Noveau Cuisine, with eager Foo Foo diners willing to eat it at any cost, such as snails, frogs legs, bulls testicles, fried animal brains, fish heads has now gone even lower on the food chain to Moths, just to see what Australians will stomach all in the name of  "Fusion  Maudit Fou"

The standing joke "Waiter there's a Fly in my soup" may now have diners paying for the privilege. Will this be a new ruse for restaurants to state to Health Inspectors "But Monsieur, thees eeze ah special vermin in your soup, delicate, nutty, with shallots, magnifique"!  For dessert, our Chef has discovered Rat droppings under the fridge, MMMMM mah mouth waters at the prospect of a noveau dish, ah shall call "Les Rat Droppings in a creamery sauce".

So yew see, what you call a Filthy Kitchen, Ah call French Fusion. That will $700 Francs please!, Will this be in Euros or Francs monsieur?  

oh, Ooh but wait they say, it has more protien than a Big Mac, it's delicious, well, no matter how the French package it, it's still Bug Crap.

Yet, France belittled the British for introducing "Spam on Toast"!

I guess the term "Butterflies in your stomach" has a new meaning.

url="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=93604"]

Agence France-Presse

Last updated 12:47pm (Mla time) 10/10/2007

SYDNEY -- Australian restaurants have hit on a radical solution to an unusually large seasonal invasion of moths -- they've taken a tip from Aborigines and put the pests on the menu.

Millions of bogong moths have descended on Canberra and Sydney over the past fortnight, gathering in swarms on windowsills, clogging air-conditioning ducts and swooping on unsuspecting pedestrians.

Strong winds have blown the moths off course as they make their annual migration from the heat of Queensland State to the cool caves of the Snowy Mountains in the south.

Bureaucrats at Parliament House in Canberra say the moth invasion is the worst they have seen.

"We've had fire alarms going off, the moths set off detectors," parliamentary services secretary Hillary Penfold told Australian Associated Press.

Canberra restaurateur Kurt Gruber said he would include the moths on his menu next week.

"They can be made into a soup or served in some brandy," he said. "You flame them so the wings and the fur burn off and they go crunchy."

Bogong moths, high in fat and protein, have been a source of nutrition for Aborigines for thousands of years.

A study earlier this year found the brown insects' abdomens -- the prime cut for moth connoisseurs -- had three times the fat and almost twice the energy content as a similar portion of a McDonald's Big Mac.

Jean-Paul Bruneteau, a French-born chef who has pioneered the fusion cooking of Australian "bush tucker" and fine dining, was full of praise for the bite-sized bogongs.

"They are lovely," he told the Sydney Morning Herald this week. "They have a nutty, crisp, popcorn flavor, like buttered hazelnut."

Bruneteau recommended pulling off the furry wings then roasting the bodies for three minutes in a dash of canola oil.

An alternative recipe involved putting a handful of moths through a coffee blender, then sprinkling them on an omelet.

Australian Museum naturalist Martyn Robinson said he preferred his bogongs raw.

"I'd catch them off the windowsill, hold them by the wings, and pop them straight into my mouth. It's like eating a prawn cocktail," he told the Herald.[/q]