The Gift

A couple of days ago I came into work and found a lovely bag of delicious trail mix at my desk. A fellow Volkswagen enthusiast had some left over goodies from a recent trade show. The next day that I came in I found a bag with 4 pieces of chocolate candy cutely named “Bugs”. I opened the small bag up and broke one of them in half to see what was inside. It was a chocolate covered pretzel; that didn’t taste bad either. I ate the other one like it next, but it tasted different; a little blander. “hmmm, inconsistency in food products typically isn’t a good sign” I thought. The next piece of candy raised another flag. The two pieces that were covered in white chocolate were very different in shape. So I decide to break one of these pieces open, to see what I might find. It was at this time I starting thinking “Note to self: Be more careful when eating food left on your desk by your co-workers”. I break the candy open and wings fall out of the center, they had detached from what looked like a small flying beetle. I look closer at the packaging and read “Warning: There are REAL bugs in each piece of chocolate”. About this time my “buddy” comes around the corner and is like:

Buddy: So…Levi...you uh...get the uh, candy? *snicker*
Levi: What did I just eat?
Buddy: MEALWORMS AND CRICKETS MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Levi: Wow…mealworms huh… I hate you with fire of a thousand suns…
Buddy: HEY EVERYONE!!! LEVI JUST ATE BUGS!!

While I was chomping on the mealworms (follow the link to see a pic of them), I had no problem with them. It was only after I found out I ate them, that my stomach felt a little “out of place”. I couldn’t help but thinking I was like Pumbaa from the Lion King. **singing** …“It's our problem-free… philosophy…Hakuna Matata!” After a little research though, I found that my insect eating eating days are not over. This link is the acceptable amount of “defects” allowed in consumable products. Take a look at popcorn and tomatoes…yuck

Pumbaa: THEY CALL ME MR. PIG! AHHHH!