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Insects
By Liz Abbett, Mak-8, Struga
Titles and Subtitles (pick
whichever ones you like):
Na Gross-ti
Nasty Na Gosti
Larvae in my Legumes
Nits in my Nuts
Lice in my Rice
Weevils in my Walnuts
Worms in my Wheat
Pests in my Pcenica
Parasites in my Prunes
Maggots in my Muesli
Insects in my Integralen Oriz
Bugs in my Bademi
Zivotni in my Zitarki
These particular
visitors eat my
food then excrete
in it.
I have bugs.
Every few weeks, I have
some unwanted visitors. No,
not the swarthy guys from the
local kafe-bar. Not my host
family, not my landlords, not
Ian. These particular visitors
eat my food then excrete in it.
I have bugs.
Now that I have ensured that
none of you will ever come
visit me, let me explain. I
have had bugs in the past. I
probably will have bugs in
the future. If you're a Mak-8,
you have had bugs. (If you
think you haven't had bugs,
you probably just didn't notice them and ate them. Dude.
Gross.) I hope that by exposing my experience with bugs
and offering some of the
strategies I have found for
preventing and treating bug
infestations, I'll be able to
save you from some of the
stomach-turning experiences
that I have had.
Most of the bugs that have
found their way into my
home entered via packaged
nuts and grains. I also have
extensive experience with
ants, so much so that
"mravki" became a staple of
my lexicon, both in English
and in Macedonian. For example, "Ajde mravki" could
originally be translated as
"Let's inspect the floor for
ants and then kill them," but
eventually became used as
"Let's go, guys."
The ants followed me from
Gostivar to our IST in
Oteshevo, where my roommate and I were dubbed "The
Mravki Girls" by a Peace
Corps staff member. (For the
record, the ants did not actually follow me, nor did I
transport them on my person.
I was just fortuitously assigned to a hotel room that
was already booked for Ant
Fest 2004.)
Despite my experience with
ants, most of this article will
be devoted to the first category of critters, including
which foods tend to harbor
bugs, how to inspect foods
prior to purchase, how to
store foods to prevent proliferation, and what to do if you
find bugs in your kitchen.
1. If it's healthy, bugs like it.
You'll inevitably find some
bugs in your produce. However, these bugs are less dangerous to your food supply
than the kinds that come with
dry goods since dry goods
will likely be nestled in with
lots of other stuff and will sit
on your shelf longer, giving
the invaders a chance to
spread. Here is a list of the
foods that I have found to
host bugs: rice, cereal, wheat
grains (pcenica), sesame
seeds, baked chick peas
(leblebii), pecans, walnuts,
almonds, raisins, prunes. I
have also found bugs in the
corners of tea boxes, which
most likely traveled from the
neighboring nuts in search of
a cozy place to spin a cocoon.
This list is by no means comprehensive, but it should give
you an idea of which foods
are vulnerable.
2. Fish for CHIPS when
shopping.
Before purchasing a suspect
item, fully inspect it using the
CHIPS method, a handy
mnemonic device that I made
up five seconds ago. You will
want to be in bright light, if
possible. I inspect these items
again before stashing them,
as well as before I use them.
Crumbs - As bugs eat their
way through your potential
foodstuff, they generate a lot
of small crumbs that settle at
the bottom of the package.
Lots of crumbs calls for
closer inspection.
Holes - Look for circular
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