Insects

insects, or at least traces of them, show up in just about every edible substance—even in something as innocent as candy. However, insects are sometimes intentionally made into candies in order to “gross out” the squeamish, or to demonstrate the eater’s machismo. In the United States such candies have typically been little more than novelty items, such as the chocolate-covered ants introduced by Reese Finer Foods in the 1950s. Thanks to Groucho Marx, who quipped to Reese executive Morris H. Kushner that “I can’t eat your chocolate-covered ants … the chocolate upsets my stomach,” these treats became as much punch line as actual snack. Other consumers proved to have sturdier digestions. In 1956 the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that Americans were developing a taste for exotic imported foods—and both chose chocolate-covered ants as the most newsworthy example.