The Maryland organic farmer is suffering from an infestation of stink bugs—crop-consuming pests emitting the odor of cilantro mixed with burned rubber and dirty socks. They began destroying his fields of peppers and tomatoes in 2010. Now, they've invaded his Adamstown home, where Mr. Biggins crushes them by hand and has trained his English Shepherd, Coadee, to eat them.
— Got stink bugs? Read more at Out of Odor: Offensive-Smelling Bugs Put U.S. Farmers on the Defensive at the Wall Street Journal.
soooo… it smells like some unwashed frat boy, wearing Bulgari Black and who’s making mexican food?
I was interested in the cilantro reference, because it does smell soapy to me. But not in a good way.
According to new research, hatred of cilantro is hereditary.
I used to dislike cilantro (we call it coriander here), but I now absolutely adore it so it looks like a taste for it can be acquired.
Oh, I do adore cilantro! But stink bugs — which are terrible here, although better this year than last — are awful, and there is a cilantro-like accord hidden in the overall sillage. Ha.
I misunderstood you, then. Sorry.
I’m glad to say I have never encountered a stink bug. Blech.
I think they came here from Asia, maybe on crops? Hope you never get them, they’re truly awful.
Oh My. I was trying to figure out what this new fragrance was and why I should want to smell like that……
HA, you don’t.
If he’s so darned convinced they’re good to eat, why doesn’t HE eat them and leave his poor dog out of it?! Yeesh!
That’s along the lines of what I was thinking. Hopefully, he did at least mention it to his vet. Poor dog!
I had the displeasure of tasting a stink bug last summer when I didn’t see it on the raspberry I popped in my mouth. It tasted intense, just like the smell, but also caused a horrible burning that persisted for hours afterwards. This was despite spitting it out almost immediately.
I like coriander but, oh god, I cannot fathom how he trained his dog to voluntarily consume them. Perhaps through dogs being willing to eat all kinds of revolting matter.
Anyway, I strongly advise against trying them (double and triple check your fruit!!!).
This reminds me of a beautiful Christmas tree that I bought a couple years ago. I decorated the whole thing and then went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard the cat attacking the tree. Hissing, jumping on it, etc…
Looking into the tree I saw that that it was infested by horrible, hissing bugs that were giving off a horrible smell….
That tree went strait out, decorations included!