AMES, Iowa — A chef who cooks with insects will be featured at the Iowa State University Insect Zoo’s Bug Village Aug. 27.
David George Gordon, known as the Bug Chef, will do cooking demonstrations from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the atrium of the Molecular Biology Building, located at 2437 Pammel Dr. on the Iowa State campus. The author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook will be serving up dishes featuring tarantulas, scorpions, grasshoppers and more.
The Bug Village is free and open to all ages from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free parking is available in lot 29 behind the building.
“More than 80 species of arthropods will be on display with many hands-on activities planned, such as painting with bugs to create a maggot masterpiece or a Leonardo Da Roachy painting,” said Ginny Mitchell, director of the Insect Zoo, which is in the Department of Entomology.
New this year, she said the Insect Zoo theater will be showing short films featuring insects — Sweet Cocoon, Sticky and Josephine and the Roach — throughout the day; and those watching can try some tasty insect cuisine instead of popcorn.
A new cockroach racetrack will debut during the Bug Village and competitors will be able to suggest track names during the races.
Insect Zoo T-shirts will be on sale for $15, Madagascar hissing cockroaches for $5 and limited-edition Insect Zoo bumper stickers for $5. There also will be a drawing for a youth-sized and an adult Insect Zoo T-shirt.