Cricket Bites: 3-Pack of Roasted Original Flavor Edible Insects (Made in Portland, Oregon) by Cricket Flours

I've watched a TED talk or two, had a co-worker that said he's invested in a startup company making snack bars with cricket flour and googled several videos on eating insects. Finally, I decided to jump in and try it. It worked, and this company's product seemed the most sane buying option after window shopping my Amazon options.I like it. It'll never be a main course, but it is a valuable addition to 15 bean soup and my fried chicken salads I buy at work. If you think your nutritional profile is missing a little something something that you just quite can't get a handle on, this may be it.As a standard Westerner (dietary-wise), it took a little to get past the cultural programming. At first I thought I'd wasted my money. I'm not going to lie, there was a period of "OMG! That doesn't taste exactly like what I'm accustomed to after 51 years of eating! Foreign! Gross! This is something a 5y.o. kid would eat that doesn't know any better, what am I doing?!"But the objective side of me afterwards was more: but it didn't *actually* taste bad. Earthy/nutty are commonly used descriptors, and I agree. Crickets don't taste like chicken, crickets taste like crickets, and it's a rich flavor all on its own. There's no direct analogue, at least if you're a standard Westerner like me that's never eaten bugs in your life. It might taste like other bugs, for all I know at this time.My turning point was at work, I'd taken the bag in to talk to friends about it, and told them it was a waste of money. I'd poured a palm-full out, ate one and finally said no! After eating maybe 10 total before then. And I threw the palm-full in the trash with the intent to also throw the 1/2lb bag out as an experiment that failed. But a corner of my mind thought "you just threw away something valuable". Not money-wise, but valuable. And that was a turning point.I gradually have become a real fan. I think they add a good type of variety to your diet that is lacking in Western society purely due to cultural programming. They do not taste bad at all, it is truly in your head - at least for me it was. They actually do make a tasty addition to other dishes, that is most likely a healthy addition, too.

I ordered these for a Science investigation in a summer school class of kids ranging 1st to 6th grade. The crickets arrived on time in nice packaging. The whole experience generated so much excitement and engagement. It turned out to be loads of fun! We did lessons based on edible insects, tasted the crickets, and then went around to other classes and to the district office and offered tastes to others. We had so much fun! I asked the kids to comment on Google Classroom about the experience. Here are the comments:AD: "I think we should give them 4 stars and I thought they were ok."CJ: "I thought that the crickets were amazing 5 out of 5 4 me."DE: "your Crickets are delicious I give you 5 stars" (DE had a BLAST with the crickets)AH: "I think we should give them 2" (AH really struggled with the gross-out gag mindset, but was a super good sport and tried them anyway.)LM: "I would give a 4."RLG: "I think i would give them 5."APN: "The Crickets were very very very very very very very good 5 out of 5."We thought the crickets tasted like dried ground nuts and seeds with chip flavorings. We had flavors like bacon, cheesy ranch, and buffalo wings. The packages came with a silica packet that needs to be removed. The packages are attractive and have nutritional content labels. We knew crickets were a good source of protein, but we were surprised by how much B12 is in them. We recommend you check the weight (ounces) so you know what to expect as the packages are quite small. We still had enough to share with something like 25 people with enough leftover for three boys who were chain-eating them like popcorn. We received a really nice follow-up message from Charles Wilson of Cricket Flours. We are wondering if he might like to correspond with our class.Thanks for providing us the means for such a fun day!ETA: Did it again the following year. Still a big hit!

Purchased these to eat on my YT channel with the kids. I was kind of upset by the small packages, but we got over it pretty quick once we started eating them. Once you get past the texture, they make for a decent little snack.Spicy Cayenne - Not much flavor...Pretty bland, but gave a nice burn in the aftertaste.Buffalo Wing - Pretty good! Kind of sweet, but tasted decent overall. My youngest loved this flavor.Original - Tasted like a saltine cracker. Not bad. One of the best of the bunch.Bacon - My personal favorite. It tasted exactly like the charred bits that come off a piece of well-cooked bacon. Absolutely delicious!Cheesy Ranch - More like foot. Tasted like a dirty sock smells after a hard day of hiking. This flavor should be abandoned. This flavor should be banished. This is not a flavor meant for human consumption. Animals will avoid this. Flies won't even bother investigating. As a last resort in a survival situation, I would rather not survive than eat cheesy ranch. It was that bad. HahaPrice - Please...Come on...Really?

Flavors are good, but there is little difference. We did a blind taste test as a game and no one could correctly identify the different flavors. With that said, they were all very tasty. Overall favorite is actually the original (no seasoning). For everything you read about the sustainability of crickets, they should be WAYYYY more affordable. Don’t tell me how great they are for the environment snd how cheap they are produce then price gouge. That kinda sucks.

Strong taste of toasted bugs. Low amount of flavoring.

They we good but not great. I have had other brands that were much better. They were overly dry and very crumbly.