Death of cockroach-eating contest winner may have been an allergic reaction

Remember Edward Archbold?

He collapsed right after winning the contest in South Florida, competing with 30 contestants eating ate live cockroaches and well worms at the competition in Deerfield Beach

  

Even though it will be weeks before an autopsy reveals what killed Eddie Archbold, experts have said that eating the roaches and other insects should not have been the cause.

While participating in the Midnight Madness bug-eating contest at Ben Siegel Reptiles, Eddie was eating so many live roaches he had to cover his mouth to keep them from crawling out, swallowing some of them whole while still alive.

He ate meal worms, 35 three-inch-long 'super worms' and a bucket of roaches, but soon after he started vomiting and collapsed in front of the store.

Dr Bill Kern, a professor of entomology at the University of Florida, said it could have been an allergic reaction to the large amount of foreign protein that killed the 32-year-old.

 

He told the Herald: 'We know cockroaches shed a lot of allergens, but they’re not toxic in and of themselves. 

'Very few [human] cultures tend to eat cockroaches because they store large amounts of uric acid and nitrogenous waste. And they tend to be scavengers and feed on things most people wouldn’t consider to be desirable.'

None of the other 30 competitors fell ill after the contest and store manager Ben Siegel's attorney said the roaches were all raised in sterile conditions and were perfectly safe to eat. 

Safe or not, all competitors were asked to sign waivers acknowledging the risks of gastrointestinal illness, adverse allergic reactions - especially in those with shellfish allergies - and injury or pain associated with consuming live insects as they pass through the esophagus.

Matthew Karwacki, was standing next to Eddie as they both ate the meal worms in the first round. But he said when he tasted his first cockroach, he was done.

'I just had one roach and tapped out after that,' he said. 'The taste did not suit me, but the texture for sure was the worst part.

'If you could look inside a dirty gutter and scoop up what’s in there, that’s what went through my head. All the other contestants kept eating roaches, but I had to look away.'

'We feel terribly awful,' said store owner Ben Siegel, who added that Archbold did not appear to be sick before the contest. 

'He looked like he just wanted to show off and was very nice,' Siegel said, adding that Archbold was 'the life of the party.'

Florida Man, 32, Dies Shortly After Winning Pet Store's Roach Eating Contest

A Florida man died Friday night after eating "dozens of roaches and worms" during a contest held by a pet/reptile store.

Edward Archbold collapsed after winning the contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store. Archbold, who was competing for a free python.

Archbold wasn’t feeling well and started throwing up shortly after the contest ended, "He had consumed dozens of roaches and worms," a sheriff’s spokesman noted.

Archbold was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital. An autopsy was conducted, and the Broward County medical examiner is awaiting test results to determined Archbold's cause of death.

Archbold (photo above) in a mug shot taken in 2004, following his arrest for disorderly conduct and indecent exposure, and yes, he was convicted.

The roach eating contest was part of the reptile store's October 5 "Midnight Madness" sale. Contestants had four minutes to eat the roaches, which can grow up to three inches long. "Oh yeah, any vomiting is an automatic DQ," the store warned in a Facebook post before to the competition.

In a Facebook update yesterday, the store stated that, "Although we just met Eddie the night of the sale, we all liked him right away. All of us here at Ben Siegel Reptiles are sad that we will not get to know Eddie better, for in the short time we knew him, he was very well liked by all."

Asked about the python won by Archbold, the store reported on its Facebook page that, "The snake is being held in his name and is full property of his estate."

The complete Facebook update:

We are all very sad at Ben Siegel reptiles about the passing of Eddie Barry (Archbold) We just met him the night of our sale but all liked him very much. He was outgoing and was fun and got the crowd very worked up and excited. We are sorry we will not get to know him better. We will keep everyone updated as we can. Please try to be respectful of Eddie's family as I am sure this is a very difficult time for them as well as everyone involved. Here is a release from our attorney.

My firm has been retained to represent Ben Siegel and his business as it relates to the tragic death of Eddie Archbold, apparently also known as Eddie Barry to some. This matter is still under investigation, so I have instructed Mr. Siegel and his staff to refrain from making any comments to the media or anyone else other than law enforcement. Some facts that have come out include the fact that all participants in the contest were entirely aware of what they were doing and that they signed thorough waivers accepting responsibility for their participation in this unique and unorthodox contest. The consumption of insects is widely accepted throughout the world, and the insects presented as part of the contest were taken from an inventory of insects that are safely and domestically raised in a controlled environment as food for reptiles. Once Mr. Archbold showed signs of distress, his companion represented that he had summoned emergency personnel and was going to immediately take him to the hospital. Moments later, Mr.Siegel made an independent call to 911 and Mr. Archbold was administered CPR. Mr. Siegel and his staff did all that anyone could to try and help Mr. Archbold, and they send out their deepest sympathy to the family. Any additional questions can be directed to my office. 

Luke Lirot, Esq.

LAW OFFICES OF LUKE LIROT, P.A.

Florida Bar No. 714836

2240,m Belleair Road., Suite 190

Clearwater, FL 33764

Bucket of Bugs Anyone?

There are so many foods throughout the world that a lot of us would find difficult to swallow.

Many of the ingredients in these dishes are often victims of bug spray, yet here we are, starting off with:

Vietnamese Bug Larvae Soup:

If you find yourself in Vietnam you may want to throw caution to the wind and have a taste of larvae soup.

Beetles:

There are several types of Beetles in Thailand. 

The Water Beetle is often served either roasted or fried and said to taste like scallops. 

Cicadas:

We are led to believe Cicadas taste like asparagus.

It's popular to deep-fried and served them with a sweet mustard sauce.

Fly Pupa:

After a fly leaves the larva infancy stage, and just before it becomes an adult, it is a pupa. At only 8mm long, it makes them perfect for sautéing.

Termites:

Termites are found during the rainy season in Africa and parts of Indonesia. They can then be roasted, fried or made into a flour.

Walking Stick:

Tasting somewhat leafy, Walking Sticks are eaten in Asia and New Guinea. As a bonus, their legs can be used as fishing hooks. 

Waiter, there's a fly in my soup

Over at the Oxford museum of natural history you find the Banquet of Insects, which hopes to promote bugs as your meat-based diet.

The argument for insects is that they are high in protein, low in calories, and, oh yes, here it comes, they cause much less environmental damage than cattle.

It's claimed that a meal made from silkworms (photo below) is just as nutritious as a beef steak, but farming the worms would require seven times less feed, less water, and creates no methane footprint.

Chef Thomasina Miers created this three course meal, starting with worm crisps, followed u[ by grasshopper salsa tacos and cricket tostados topped with pecorino, radish and orange, and if that wasn't enough, the meal ended with chocolate-coated locusts for pudding.

So, if you are deeply concerned with carbon footprints, your future may include crunchy crickets, silkworms and grasshoppers.

A Bucket of Bugs Anyone?

According to a Dutch scientist the world's food crisis could be reversed if Westerners would eat insects in their diet and not all that meat.

Professor Van Huis (photo below) says bugs are nutritious and full of goodness and if westerners would only overcome their culturally indoctrinated sense of disgust, the environment would benefit.

As Professor Van Huis grabs up a couple of freeze-dried crickets and crunches them in his mouth,

he says not only do they taste good and are packed with vitamins.

The professor says if we farmed incests on an industrial scale they would be an environmentally friendly alternative to meat.

Insects are cold blooded so they do not need to convert food energy into heat; consequently we would save the planet, or something like that.

Also, Insects also emit 10 times less methane than their traditional farmyard alternatives.

There are those who tell us that when insects are ground down and mixed with spices the taste is delicious and just full of nutritional benefits. At least that's what they are telling us.

Professor Van Huis believes his work could take the strain off the planet.

Now he wants to convince the nonbelievers that bugs are just right for you.

Georges Brossard: "I dream about them, I eat them - I love bugs"

Georges Brossard has spent 35 years sleeping among insects.
George, the bug collector travels six months out of the year collecting specimens for "insect museums" known as insectariums, which he has helped set up around the world.
The Montreal Insectarium, which opened 20 years ago, was Georges Brossard's brainchild,  he donated 250,000 insects from his collection to get it started.
It's not only the collections of both live and dead insects that attract visitors, it's also the annual insect tastings, where chefs cook up bugs for thousands of visitors to taste.
Cheese flavored crickets and even big scorpions seasoned with Asian spice, are on the menu.
Visitors can also taste bugs at the Insectarium's boutique, where they sell boxes of barbecue, salt-and-vinegar, or cheese and bacon-flavoured mealworms and crickets.
They also sell lollipops that contain worms that are part of a breeding program this very purpose.
"These here are especially grown at the Insectarium for us to sell," says Enza Cacciatore from the insectarium's boutique.
"So we try to explain to the little ones that they are not to start to pick up the bugs from off the floor and eat them because they are not the same kind of bugs." (that's good to know)
She continued: "People use the cooked insects on top of salads, instead of using bacon bits. Sure, they won't be using it every night, because it's C$4.50 (£2.90) a box. But if they have parties it's a talking starter for a good party."

You can WATCH the video from BBC news.

HOTLIX - your edible insect candy shop

HOTLIX is the original edible insect candy shop. For over 20 years they have been making people cringe with with their outrageous candy using real insects right inside the candy!