I am one of the pickiest eaters you’ll ever meet. If I have a five-course meal, I will eat each item one by one. I never mix my foods; in fact I don’t even allow different food items on my plate to touch. But somehow I came to allow myself to sample some insects.

Bug Appetit is one of several highlights at the Audubon Insectarium on Canal Street. The museum is the first to open in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina and will be celebrating its one-year anniversary June 13. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is $15 for adults, $10 for children between 2 and 12, and $12 for those over 65.

The daily menu at Bug Appetit usually consists of at least six dishes made primarily from meal worms, crickets and wax worms – which are all commercially raised and safe to eat.

Additionally, there were some dragonflies, grasshoppers and giant water bugs being saved for specialty fare.

The bugs are even nutritious, the server boasted. One giant water bug accounts for 2 grams of protein, 20 calories and zero grams of fat.

I continuously eyed the creepy crawlers, waiting for one to show any signs of life. I couldn’t just eat any bug; it at least had to be cooked and prepared, right?

And next thing you know, down the hatch. My virgin taste buds were introduced to an apple, mango and papaya fruit chutney with wax worms on a cracker that had little to no hint of insects. And the barbecued crickets tasted more like barbecue sunflower seeds than actual bugs.

While I was able to overcome the gross factor and try a bug or two, you’re not going to catch me at the local supermarket searching the aisles for the latest insect cuisine. I think I’ll stick to poultry.