Help in the desert

The Arizona State Fair that was recently held featured a variety of vendors serving up all kinds of exotic animal dishes as part of their attractions. Chef John of Chef du Jour featured deep-fried scorpions. Scorpions are routinely used, abused, exploited, and killed in situations like this, all for monetary gain. Please let Chef John know that all animals (even the misunderstood and often feared ones) do not deserve to be killed and maltreated in such a disgusting fashion.

Please send the sample letter below to chefjohn@chefdujourllc.com
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Dear Chef John,

I wish to convey my deep concern and disgust over your deep-fried scorpions which you catered at the Arizona State Fair. Scorpions are extremely valuable components to natural eco-systems. They act as bioindicators to environmental degradation, and play roles of both predators and prey to numerous other species. These animals do not deserve to be used as a gimmick to sell products. The lack of respect for other life forms that is being displayed here staggers me. In my opinion it is a gross example of exploitation of the earth's natural resources. It also sends the message that just because something is misunderstood and often feared, it has no value, excepct to be used and killed for monetary gain. I urge you to discontinue this dish. Until this is done I will not support you, your company, or any of its products, and will encourage others to do the same.

Signed,
[insert name]

in my opinion scorpions can be used as food just as many other animals can be, no offense to you papertiger in any way though. It can really be compared to say, chicken to us, scorpions could be to someone in, say, thailand. It's just geography and it's also a renewable food source, scorpions are eaten by the thousands in many parts of the world and, in my opinion, just because a chef shows how to cook a delicacy from another part of the world doesn't mean he's doing something wrong, just different. Although i bet i would like to keep some of the scorpions they are cooking

Chrome wrote:

in my opinion scorpions can be used as food just as many other animals can be, no offense to you papertiger in any way though. It can really be compared to say, chicken to us, scorpions could be to someone in, say, thailand.

I agree.

In my opinion, if they are:

1. Kept and then killed humanely
2. Sourced in a way that doesn't impact wild populations

I dont mind

If they're sourcing them from delicate wild populations, or frying them live, then this is a different matter... regardless of them being scorpions.

If they breed it themself for the purpose of serving as food like what we have for chicken/cow etc then it's ok IMO

We all have a right to a opionion and I respect all of yours.

I've eaten plenty of bugs in my time. Stir-fried, live, raw, and even in cookies. The argument could be made that we mistreat all our food animals. Scorpions have a far simpler nervous systems when compared to something like young calves (used for veal, look up the process). Have you written every restaurant in the world that serves them? We aren't even sure scorpions feel pain (feel free to correct that if you can). Granted I'm sure they can "feel" a leg being torn off but is it more of they know the leg is being removed and it will hinder their survival rather than "it hurts"?

Remind me to complain about animal cruelty to the entomologist who served me stir-fried mealworms because he wasn't humane and cooked them alive. Is my dried bug collection a crime because I let a few things starve to death to make it?

The fact that you let them starve to death sounds a bit unnecessary. For collections, I dispatch them a little more quickly through freezing or recently deceased specimens.

Regarding scorpions, I'm a little on-the-fence. I support entomophagy but I would have a hard time eating scorpions because I find them much more interesting when alive than when battered.

However, if they are collected en masse for this purpose, I can't support it, as they're crucial predators in their environments and have a slow regeneration time (also why I believe we should all work hard to breed our collections in captivity).

Mr. Mordax wrote:

However, if they are collected en masse for this purpose, I can't support it, as they're crucial predators in their environments and have a slow regeneration time (also why I believe we should all work hard to breed our collections in captivity).

I agree