No, crickets don’t taste like chicken. But they do taste a little like nuts.

Insect taste-testing was just one of the popular attractions at the Undergraduate Entomology Club’s activity night on Friday.

The club has hosted an “Insect Horror Film Festival” at the Memorial Union for almost 20 years. Recently, the club has moved from scary flicks to movies the whole family can enjoy. This year’s selection was Disney’s “A Bug’s Life.”

Movie munchies included cricket peanut brittle and corn borer corn bread, baked by club members.

“We dry-roasted them,” Gretchen Schultz, senior in entomology, said of the crickets for the peanut brittle.

The club special-orders the insects for baking. Schultz said “freezing them overnight” helps, but it’s also easy to “just zap them in the microwave.” Past recipes have included “Chocolate Chirpie Chip Cookies” and “Banana Worm Bread.”

Video was taken to record the reactions to the recipes.

“The Food Network asked us to send them some footage,” Schultz said, although she was unsure when or if the footage would be used.

Some brave tasters gave the snacks enthusiastic thumbs up, even returning for seconds. Courtney Martin, senior in management, was excited to try the cricket brittle until she saw an antenna sticking out.

“Then it took a little more courage to eat,” Martin said.

Even if the average person doesn’t routinely snack on insect cuisine, they are probably consuming more bugs than they realize. Of course, most people have heard about spiders eaten during sleep, but, according to a display, the typical box of macaroni and cheese contains on average 156 insect parts.

David Dorhout, junior in entomology, said everything from small hairs to entire thoraxes are commonly found in food that we eat every day.

A jar of peanut butter contains about 153 parts, and approximately 26 parts can be found in a bar of chocolate. In fact, most people who are allergic to chocolate are actually reacting to “the dead shell from when the cockroach dies,” Dorhout explained.

Those who couldn’t stomach eating the insects could opt to hold them instead. Available for some “hands on” experience were giant millipedes and Madagascar hissing cockroaches. When agitated, the roaches vent air through holes called spiracles, causing the hissing noise. These were “Program Roaches” trained to be held, so no defense mechanisms kicked in.

A rhinoceros beetle, almost identical to its “A Bug’s Life” counterpart, was T.J. Overhulser’s responsibility for the evening.

Kids were anxious to hold the colorful insect, but Overhulser, senior in entomology, was quick to point out that it has “legs and claws like little meat hooks.” Just to be safe, he held the beetle while spectators got a closer view.

Kids and parents alike flocked to the tarantula exhibit, where live spiders could be viewed but not touched. For those who wanted to feel the tarantulas, molted spider skins (called exuvia) were on hand.

The club hopes the activities will educate about insects.

“Only a very small percent of insects have a negative impact on humans,” Vanessa Ware, club president, and senior in entomology said. “The benefits that are provided by them quite outweigh the detriments.”