"Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got bugs in my tummy", sang John the Baptist

or was it "A spoon full of honey helps the locusts go down, the locusts go down, the locusts go down..."?

This Sunday's reading from Matthew 3:1-12 tells the story of John the Baptist's ministry and his unusual diet,

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:“Prepare the way of the Lord,   make his paths straight.” ’Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
 ‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

I have read several thoughts about John the Baptist's tastes in food floating around the web, and I learned a few things:
1) locusts are kosher.
2) Once all of your crops have been eaten by locusts, what else do you have to eat but bugs?
3) The locusts represent judgement and the honey represents salvation, and this matches John's message.
4) There are a number of good recipes for locusts and honey out there, and here is one,

From Inn at the Crossroads,

This Volantene recipe results in a sweet & spicy, super crunchy snack that is surprisingly good. It takes a bit of psychological adjustment to get over the idea of eating bugs, but the novelty and brag-factor makes it well worth the effort. Underlying the more familiar tastes of honey and spice is the real flavor of the crickets- a sort of smoky nuttiness that takes several bites to savor.
We dared to try it. Do you?

Honey-spiced LocustsIngredients:1/4 cup butterpinch of salt1 cup cleaned insects (we used freeze dried crickets from Amazon)2 Tbs. honey1 tsp. Aleppo pepper, mixed in with the honeyMelt your butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the insects and and salt and stir gently for around 10 minutes, making sure to get them completely covered in butter.When the bugs are suitably crisped, drizzle the spice-honey over them and stir a bit more. Then spread them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and cook for around 10 minutes at 200 F, until the bugs are no longer quite so sticky.

Maybe we should bring some of these for the after-church snack and coffee hour.

I wonder how newcomers would react to that!