As people have said before, westerners are actually strange for not including some kinds of insects in their normal diet. Though, oddly, we think eating crustaceans is fine. Is there really THAT big a difference between a grasshopper and a shrimp? That said, insect larvae gross me out, so I probably would not eat any kind of grub or caterpillar, unless maybe it was prepared by someone who knew what they were doing (like some non-western cook that makes them all the time). The thought of accidentally eating, say, a cabbage worm, totally grosses me out. I've heard crickets and grasshoppers aren't too bad, again, properly prepared. And locusts are specifically mentioned as kosher in the scriptures! Hey, kosher restaurants could be totally missing out on a great alternative to shrimp. Parasites are a different matter, but don't you mainly get those from fecal contamination? An aphid or cabbage worm is not going to survive your digestive tract and become parasitic. Being a parasite is not that easy; they have to have a lot of adaptations to survive that environment and hide from your immune system.

Cena, that sounds awful, but it is good you take precautions. I never knew there were black widows in New Jersey until my brother moved into a house in the pines that was infested with them. I also live in a heavily wooded piney area with lots of spiders, but no widows that I know of. Exterminators say that they sometimes get transported with lumber from the south. It doesn't matter, because all spiders are venomous. My mother was gardening last week and while weeding something bit her on the back of the hand, her whole hand swelled up and she said the pain was like the ache of a bruise...she went to the doctor, who said it was most likely a spider bite, and they took it very seriously and put her on an antibiotic, and told her to go to the ER if it got any worse that night or the next day. You don't want to mess around with spider bites. They can hang out in my yard all they want, but if I see them indoors, they are dead. I had heard of spiders carrying their babies around, but always thought it was big exotic spiders in the jungle or in Australia or somewhere. At least somewhere OUTDOORS!! I didn't know our spiders around here did that, and not liking to know more than is necessary, I have not done too much spider research. Denise, your spider was inside too - It was bad enough dealing with that mama spider on the back porch, it it had been right inside the house, I probably would have moved out by now!! And, believe it or not, we just had the exterminator out last week, and he sprayed both indoors and out. I really should give him a call.

That is not a lady bug. It is a Leaf Beetle (Lema trabeata), not a beneficial insect.

Thank you, catherine.