Eat Those Larvae: Culinary Inspiration From Welles Park Grub Hub

CHICAGO — Looking for the perfect Halloween snack? Get inspired by the Welles Park grub hub, so to speak, by embracing the bright-side of the rare beetle larvae infestation. Those disgusting little turf killers are edible.

Intrepid urban nature reporter Patty Wetli was first to report on the grubs that ate Welles Park.

The "creatures baked to death on the pavement, they gave off a powerful stench of putrefaction, the sort of olfactory assault that reaches to the back of the throat and leaves a person’s nostrils in need of a scrubbing," she wrote.

Well, one person's putrefaction is another's delicacy, if you have the right recipe.

"They look really disgusting to a Western mind, but a lot of cultures eat 'em and love 'em," said ecologist Joe Sapp. "Fry 'em up with a little garlic and butter, and they're pretty tasty."

Here's an idea: You can roast grubs on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees until they're crunchy and add them to soups and stews, salads and quiches, crush them into a dip or add beetle larvae bits to popcorn, according to bug chefs who know about these things.