In cold climates supporting
reindeer or
caribou-reliant populations, large quantities of
Hypoderma tarandi (caribou warble fly) maggots are available to human populations during the butchery of animals.
The sixth episode of season one of the television series
Beyond Survival, titled "The
Inuit – Survivors of the Future", features survival expert
Les Stroud and two Inuit guides hunting caribou on the northern coast of
Baffin Island near
Pond Inlet,
Nunavut, Canada. Upon skinning and butchering of one of the animals, numerous larvae (presumably
H. tarandi, although not explicitly stated) are apparent on the inside of the caribou pelt. Stroud and his two Inuit guides eat (albeit somewhat reluctantly) one larva each, with Stroud commenting that the larva "tastes like milk" and was historically commonly consumed by the Inuit.
Copious art dating back to the
Pleistocene in Europe confirms their consumption in premodern times, as well.
The
Babylonian Talmud Hullin 67b discusses whether the warble fly is kosher.
