Food of the Tablelands - Eating Insects

An Athasian Feast

Food in the Tablelands is much easier to come buy than water. A starving person can survive by eating insects. Beetles, caterpillars, bees, ants, wasps, cicadas, grasshoppers, termites, locusts, crickets, larvae and grubs are all edible and, likely, eaten in all of the city-states.
Insects too would be an inexpensive source of nutrition for most Athasians.
However, there are certain rules when choosing which insects to eat. Grabbing anything out in the desert can lead to illness or death for your character, so here's some rules for them follow. First, avoid eating brightly colored insects. Bright colors usually mean poison. Poison types G and H would be most appropriate. Second, avoid hairy insects. Hairy insects can irritate the throat and can sometimes hide stingers. Third, avoid smelly and pungent insects. If the insect stinks or sprays some kind of stinky liquid, don't eat it. Fourth, cook all insects. While eating some insects raw will not harm your character, they may contain parasites that can cause your character to fall ill or die. Cooking them also softens the shell, which is helpful, because the quality of dental work on Athas is terrible. Fifth, avoid eating insects that eat poisonous plants. The insect may be fine to eat, but they may have traces of poison in their digestive system.
A normal medium sized creature can go three weeks without food, so water is by far more important. However, if your character is ever without food, grab some bald, earth colored insects, cook them, and enjoy.