"Harry's Big Adventure: My Bug World" opens October 19th at the Saint Louis Science Center. As a tasty addition, every weekend the attraction will host bug chefs preparing sweet, salty and crunchy bug treats. Cityscape host Steve Potter previewed the exhibit with Bug Chef Jayme Necaise and sampled an array of those bug-filled snacks.
First up in the tasting were the chocolate chirp cookies featuring roasted crickets. Necaise called them his "one of his gateway bugs." His banana critter fritters were next, also baked with the nutty-tasting crickets. Steve Potter rounded up the taste test with crunchy french-fried wax worms and chips dipped in meal worm salsa.
When he doesn't have his chef cap on, Necaise is the director of animal and visitor programs at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium in New Orleans. He has a staff of 12 bug chefs who will take turns coming up to St. Louis on the weekends.
If eating bugs is a little too extreme for you, the exhibit does have more to offer. For examples, live bugs in multiple habitats and audio-visual stations. Necaise said the goal was to create an immersive exhibit that appeals to kids and taps into the childlike love of insects adults had back before they learned that bugs were icky.
And don't worry. If bugs truly creep you out, Necaise promised no one will chase after you with a hissing roach.
Related Event
Saint Louis Science Center Exhibition "Harry's Big Adventure: My Bug World"
Opens October 19, 2013
Saint Louis Science Center, 5050 Oakland Ave.
For more information, call 314-289-4400 or visit the Saint Louis Science Center website.
Cityscape is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer, hosted by Steve Potter and funded in part by the the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
