Museum Month: Cockroach Hall Of Fame & Museum, Plano, Texas


We’ve covered some pretty weird museums this month here on Gadling. One that may take the prize for the weirdest is the Cockroach Hall Of Fame & Museum in Plano, Texas.

Museum curator and professional exterminator Michael Bohdan opened the museum so he could educate people about a bug that’s got a serious knack for survival. As Bohdan points out, cockroaches have been around more than 350 million years and survived a lot of Earth’s upheavals that have killed off lesser species, so we might be able to learn something from them.

Wearing his roach-lined fedora, Bohdan takes visitors around the displays, showing off little dressed up bugs such as Marilyn Monroach and Ross Peroach. There’s even a Liberoachie that plays the piano. More serious displays tell about roach biology and the amazing ways they’ve adapted to a wide range of habitats.

For more strange educational experiences, check out more of our articles on weird museums!

Name a cockroach after your lover: Valentine’s Day at the Bronx Zoo

The Bronx Zoo has come up with a good way to show that special someone you care–name a giant cockroach after them.

The BBC reports that for ten bucks you can buy the rights to one of the zoo’s 58,000 giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and name it after that special someone who bugs you more than anybody else. The zoo says they sold 1,000 dedications in the first day of the promotion. Perhaps their tagline helped: “Flowers wilt. Chocolates melt. Roaches are forever.”

Indeed they are. They’ve been around since before the dinosaurs and they’ll probably be around after we’re long gone. The Bronx Zoo has some interesting facts about the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, like that they can grow to three inches long and the hiss they make can be as loud as a lawnmower.

They’re nutritious too. Check out our 8 bug-eating videos including two on eating cockroachs. Also check out the far less disgusting but much more educational the video below.

[Photo courtesy user Husond via Wikimedia Commons]

8 great bug-eating videos from around the world

There’s nothing better than having new and exciting experiences while traveling the globe. But, are you gutsy enough to try eating delectable delicacies such as grasshoppers, cockroaches, and gigantic worms?

Me neither … but these eight people are.

Giant Chinese Cockroach – Thailand

This cockroach is so big, I’m surprised they didn’t sell it by the pound.


Fresh Weevil Grubs – Amazon Jungle

Bear Grylls stars in this “Man vs Fresh Weevil Grub” clip. Oops, sorry for the squishy bits. Hope you didn’t get squirted.


Large Crunchy Cockroaches – Thailand

These guys went looking for the “Bug Carts” in Bangkok. I’m not sure that’d be my first stop.


Scorpions – China

“Kinda like eating an eyebrow,” he says. This guy eats four of them!


Giant Mangrove Worms – Philippines

Giant worms pulled from trees… and I mean GIANT. Could you eat the whole thing?


Deep Fried Tarantula – Cambodia

“Eat your heart out.” Looks kinda chewy if you ask me.


Giant Waterbug – Thailand

This poor guy had no idea what he was in for. Is he crying? There’s no crying in bug-eating!


Grasshoppers – Thailand

Thai Lady: “It’s crunchy.”
Director: “Like potato chips.”
Thai Lady: “Yeah. Kind of.”
Director: “$15 bucks and you got a whole meal here.”

Enough said.

Japanese chef publishes insect cuisine cookbook

One of the great joys of traveling is the chance to eat something new. Whether it’s a mouthwatering steak in Argentina or an English breakfast in London, exposure to new cuisine helps us understand the places we visit and people we meet. But of all the foods we’ll try when traveling, many people get all squeamish when it comes to insects. Not so fast says Japanese chef Shoichi Uchiyama, whose new bug recipe cookbook aims to give eaters everywhere a fresh look at eating and consuming these “untouchables” of the food world.

Uchiyama, who first became interested in insect cuisine during a workshop in 1998 in Tokyo, has become a devoted advocate of increased consumption of insects by humans. The chef points to the many benefits of insects as food, including their high protein content and the ability for farmers to raise them quickly and cheaply. He also notes that more than 1400 varieties of insects are consumed worldwide, from Africa to Latin America and Asia. Uchiyama’s new 256 page cookbook aims to further dispel humans’ natural aversion to eating bugs by providing a run-down of how to cook everything from cockroaches in pink vinegar soup, to moth pupae covered in sugar to pizza covered in water bugs.

What do you think? Does a sugar-covered moth-pupae get your mouth watering? Even if you think Chef Uchiyama has gone off the deep end, his enthusiasm and creativity are certainly cause for a second look at that plate of crickets. Have you ever eaten insects during your travels? Tell us about your experience in the comments.

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