Dangerous Food Facts at the Science Festival

As far as we’re concerned, there  are two kinds of people in this world. Those who can stomach expired and distasteful foods and those who cannot.  We are proud to report that we fall into the former category.

Eating eggs three months past their due date? No problem. Picking up a piece of cheese that’s just fallen onto the floor of an ancient stone monument in Rome and popping it into our mouths? Sure thing. Believing that the freezer is a machine that’s capable of preserving seafood and meats until long after the Apocalypse? Absolutely.

So it’s with a great deal of eagerness and bemusement that we anticipate a Philadelphia Science Festival event tonight called “From Farm to Fork: Dangerous Food Facts, Fears and Foibles,” being held at Rembrandt’s. Starting at 6:30, a Monell scientist who specializes in gastronomic preferences and the CEO of a company that manufactures devices to detect foodborne pathogens will explore the facts and fictions behind such notions as the five-second rule, the hard-and-fastness of expiration dates and how our cultures perceive edible vs. inedible creatures.

But this leads me to a confession: because of my bravado, I’ve often lain awake trying to convince myself that I could, given the right circumstances, eat anything that’s deemed comestible in any part of the world. However, at tonight’s event, there will be worms served.

Worms.

Not being a lover of creepy-crawlies of any sort, I just don’t know that I can unearth (pun intended) the fortitude to stomach such a retched, horrible thing, either alive or dead. Sure, we’re all god’s critters and all that but just…No. I promise I’ll spend the afternoon trying to muster the courage to swallow the worm like any good frat boy on Spring Break would, but I’m also glad I won’t have to write a follow-up post confirming or denying my bravery–because I have a feeling I’d just settle on bragging about gleefully cooking the fish that’s been chilling on ice in my freezer since 2009.

Philadelphia Science Festival [Official website]

From Farm To Fork: Dangerous Food Facts, Fears and Foibles [Philadelphia Science Festival]