For some of us, there is nothing worse than the sight of a cockroach. The last time I saw one was when I entered a rather shabby hotel in Colorado Springs. It was greeting customers that night and I honestly hope it was getting paid well for the welcome. I, on the other hand, nearly jumped out of my skin trying to exit the building before someone had the audacity to ask me if I wanted a room.
Cockroaches in Soda Bottles
A woman in Sydney, Australia owned a little kiosk where she sold soft drinks and candy back in 1953. One day the health inspector came and discovered that the kiosk was infested with cockroaches. During his search of the kiosk, he not only found roaches inside the ceiling and walls, but there were four dozen open soda bottles on a top shelf and each of them had at least twenty cockroaches, dead and alive, inside of them. [1]
Cockroach Soup
A Russian secretary of the Communist Party was sentenced to prison for three years back in 1935. His crime was forcing the restaurant staff at a railway station to eat freshly made cockroach soup. The secretary felt that he was doing the right thing to enforce cleanliness among the staff and made several of the men eat the soup or be instantly dismissed from their jobs. Since jobs were hard to come by, the men ate the soup. [2]
Shared His Cigar
In the early 1900s, men who worked in the railroad signal towers killed away the time by adopting some rather strange pets. According to one tower man:
“At midnight nine months ago a cockroach crept out from under the telegraph desk and began to drink out of the inkwell; just about that time I laid my cigar down on the desk and began to work the telegraph key.
“The cockroach walked over to my cigar and sucked at the moist end for a second or so, then ran to the inkwell again and took a drink, then came back to the cigar. He repeated this performance several times and staggered away drunk as a lord.”
Every night since then, the cockroach would show up during the man’s shift. It would drink some ink, taste some tobacco, and be off on its merry way. [3]
How He Got His Free Lunch
Some people will do anything to get a free meal, especially H. J. Callahan. It was reported in 1915 that Mr. C. would visit all of the “swell” hotels using his cockroach scheme. “I always had a dead cockroach in my pocket when I went in to eat. When I was nearly through, I would drop a cockroach on the plate, call the proprietor or head waiter, point to the plate as if in disgust and walk out. It never failed,” he said. [4]
Cockroach Racing in Paris
In 1933 it was reported that cockroach racing was a huge sport in Montparnasse, Paris. Each night, large amounts of money changed hands as men bet on the choicest of roaches. According to one report:
“The table is of glass, about four yards in length. This glass racecourse is divided into ten lanes by glass partitions. The racing cockroaches are placed in glass test tubes and handed around for the enthusiasts to examine. Length of leg, lean shanks, and perky appearance are the basis of judgement of good racing roaches.” [5]
French Bisque
In 1907, the cockroach made a brief entry into French cuisine and according to one chef, they make an excellent bisque:
“He says that pounded in a mortar, put through a sieve, and poured into a water or beef stock, they make a puree preferable to bisque.”
Another French cook recommended that cockroaches should be shelled and eaten like shrimp. Yum. I’d like to see how well that would go over at the next family picnic. [6]
