"Some weeks ago when [my wife] Meeru pointed out an article about how eating crickets, grasshoppers and other insects is are good for the diet and the environment, I liked the idea," writes Chef Vikram Vij in Getting a leg up - or six - on dinner. "My personal philosophy has been that if you can eat beef or chicken, then you should eat everything, as long as it is sustainable.
"We did some research ... and we came up with a dish to make. We decided to grind [the grasshoppers] into a flour so there was no visual effect, because in North America we eat with our eyes — if something does not look appealing, we tend not to eat it. If we can eat and enjoy the texture of foie gras and some other animal parts, eating crickets should be a walk in the park."
Chef Vij was online earlier to take your questions on everything from cooking with crickets to cooking with curry. Wondering about how to recreate your favourite Indian dish at home? Need advice on the right spice? Want help matching wine to Indian cuisine?
Your questions and Chef Vij's answers appear at the bottom of this page.
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Vikram Vij was born in 1964 in India and grew up in Amritsar and Bombay. His most vivid childhood memories revolve around food and family, and he pursued this further by studying hotel management in Salzburg, Austria. After his studies, Chef Vij continued working at various find dining restaurants in Austria and, in 1989, moved to Canada to work at the Banff Springs Hotel.
Today, he and his wife, Meeru, run Vij's Restaurant in Vancouver, which he started in 1994. Vij's philosophy is to keep spices and cooking techniques Indian, while using meats, seafoods and produce that are locally available.
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Rasha Mourtada, Globe Life web editor: Thank you for joining us today, Chef Vij. I think that while many of us love Indian food, cooking it at home is a bit intimidating, especially for the novice cook. Do you have any advice for people who'd like to experiment with Indian cuisine at home but are a bit nervous?
Vikram Vij: Buying a good cooking Indian cookbook would be a great start and then slowly work with simple curries, it is quite intimidating if one is not used to it but really reading and learning is the best way to start. Also if you have any Indian friends, ask them to teach you and show you some basic ways of cooking with Indian spices.
gn, Ottawa: Thank you for taking my question. Ever since our son was diagnosed with a peanut allergy, we haven't had curry sauce in our house, although we miss it terribly. Can you recommend a mild commercial curry sauce that is made without peanuts or a simple home-made recipe?
Vikram Vij: I think you are thinking of Thai style curry sauces, Indian curry sauces do not have any peanuts in them. My daughter is also allergic to peanuts and she is okay with Indian curry sauces, There are lots of premade sauces available in the Indian food section, try to buy a good quality one only, really cheap ones taste really cheap and do not have the same depth of flavours..
Neon Cab, Canada writes: Chef, would a significant amount of ground insect protein affect the taste of prepared dishes (for good or bad) or would it add nutrition without affecting anything else? Also, how economical would it be to farm, source and prepare insects for consumption versus meat and would they even comply with our health standards?
Vikram Vij: I think the amount of insect protein is dependent on the chef himself. We did not use a lot and one cannot taste the difference. By over cooking it the protein becomes darker, so one has to be careful.
I believe that awareness on this subject is more important and nobody is saying that one should give up eating beef or pork, it only means that we do not need to consume so much of it. Crickets are from the arthropods family and they are like prawns, so I do not think it would be a huge issue, only time will tell.
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