At the Wisconsin State Fair this month, among the extreme food offerings - like, say, the deep-fried bacon-wrapped olives on a stick - was one menu option you might have missed: cricket nachos . Although the idea of cricket nachos might sound repulsive to many fairgoers, the shock value was served up with a side order of science. As the fair's menu described it: "Cricket nachos have all the flavor of regular nachos but are high in protein and gluten free! Crickets are a sustainable protein that require less water to grow, providing an eco-friendly way of eating." University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral student Valerie Stull didn't make it to the fairgrounds in West Allis to try the cricket nachos, but she's eaten crickets - and other insects - prepared in a myriad of ways. And she believes the world would benefit if the rest of us would open our minds to the nutritional value of entomophagy - the practice of eating insects. Stull is the cofounder, with Rachel Bergmans, of MIGHTi - the