Research shows dragonflies have long been on menu in northeast Japan

"I was told that dragonflies were good for my health because they are gods," she said.

Eating your gods? There must be a name for that. Yes, theophagy. No different to eating the body of Christ, I guess.

"intriguing as eating adult dragonflies is rare."

Yet another unique tradition in Japan. Submit for world heritage status asap.

Utterly pointless article.

Utterly pointless article

Utterly pointless comment

Sounds quite tasty, although I prefer deep fried bamboo worms, washed down by copious quantities of frothy beverages.

Lepyon

Sounds quite tasty, although I prefer deep fried bamboo worms, washed down by copious quantities of frothy beverages.

I'd have to drink copious quantities of froth beverages first.

Love 'hebo',as the Hida people in Gifu call hachinoko.

Used to startle the locals by spreading it on toast like marmalade.

Also inago(locusts).

Anything tastes good fried in soy and sugar.

I would have thought that the dragonfly nymphs would be more luscious,but perhaps hard to find.

Always looking forward to being offered food.

Don't dragonfly carry parasitic worms?

This article is a load of cr#p!! Sounds like there is a hidden agenda here! Are you expecting we start eating dragonflies for sustainability? How many dragonflies would it take to make a meal?

He found five cases in Iwate and one case in Akita, ranging from the 1950s to the 2000s.

Is that it?

Funny article, though, as we only discover that we are talking about RAW dragonfly in paragraph five.

Tombo sashimi!

As the Japanese become more impoverished then they are being urged to adopt survival tactics…

Utterly pointless article.

People obviously find this interesting, that is a perfectly valid point.

This article is a load of cr#p!! Sounds like there is a hidden agenda here!

Making up hidden meaning in something that is quite simple and then complaining about that hidden meaning is not a valid criticism. It is just something that people may find interesting to know, no conspiracy to force you to do anything. You may not like the content, but nobody is forcing you to read it either.

Don't dragonfly carry parasitic worms?

Parasitic to the insect or to animals like frogs, but I don't think there is any parasite described that could affect dragonflies and humans, that happens for snails.

@virusrex 'Anecdotal evidence' (wink wink) of two people eating dragonflies is hardly enough to convince us that eating dragonflies was a widespread practice in the Tohoku region!

Which is natural since the purpose of the article is not to convince anybody, that is something only you have said. If anything you just demonstrate this interpretation makes no sense.

On the other hand there is no problem with the obvious purpose of entertaining people with something out of the ordinary.

@Virusrex Maybe you haven't noticed but Japantoday seems to have a keen interest in this particular topic.

Japan’s edible insect vending machines dish out luxury bug bits - Japan Today, Aug 30, 2020

Hopping mad: Japan's edible bug industry takes giant leap forward - Japan Today, Feb 28, 2023

Edible bug businesses at crossroads in Japan - Japan Today, March 17

More Japanese gourmands bugging out on insects - Japan Today, June 30, 2015

3 edible Japanese insects for autumn - Japan Today, Oct 10, 2017

Tokushima high school serves up edible crickets in meals - Japan Today, Dec 12, 2022

More people are eating bugs – but is it ethical to farm insects for food? - Japan Today, September 26, 2021

And just to be clear I don't have a problem with human's eating insects!

I lived in Akita but I never heard of the dragonfly thing, however grasshoppers were eaten there. There's an izakaya snack up there called "inago" that's basically teriyaki grasshoppers. It's pretty good with a beer, crunchy and sweet. You don't really taste anything weird.

Fried ants, from south America, are a little salty but otherwise good. The Vietnamese eat bugs. Just as some people are turned off by sashimi and sushi, many are turned off by bugs. They're missing out on both.

@Virusrex Maybe you haven't noticed but Japantoday seems to have a keen interest in this particular topic.

The people seem to have it, this is in no way proof of a conspiracy to force people to eat insects as you mistakenly interpreted. The articles are much more simply explained as something that pike the interest of people and therefore are included so people would come to the site and read it. Not everything must have a hidden agenda and simple explanations are much more likely to be correct.

Are they trying to belittle the Japanese as barbarians who eat insects? Or is there some other meaning?

There are too few examples to be a good sample, but what do you think?

In that case, it would be closer to the truth to say that people ate red dogs and cats before the war.

It is said that people even had to eat human flesh during famines in the Edo period, so is this proof of cruelty and barbarism?

@Virusrex Maybe you haven't noticed but Japantoday seems to have a keen interest in this particular topic. 

Japan’s edible insect vending machines dish out luxury bug bits - Japan Today, Aug 30, 2020

Hopping mad: Japan's edible bug industry takes giant leap forward - Japan Today, Feb 28, 2023

Edible bug businesses at crossroads in Japan - Japan Today, March 17

More Japanese gourmands bugging out on insects - Japan Today, June 30, 2015

3 edible Japanese insects for autumn - Japan Today, Oct 10, 2017

Tokushima high school serves up edible crickets in meals - Japan Today, Dec 12, 2022

More people are eating bugs – but is it ethical to farm insects for food? - Japan Today, September 26, 2021

So you dug up 7 articles over a 9-year period to prove a ‘keen interest’?

A bit of a stretch.

The people seem to have it, this is in no way proof of a conspiracy to force people to eat insects

This is a common thing among those who get a bit delirious over the Davos crowd forcing people to eat insects.