Late University of Georgia professor's passion, taste for insects, lives on
Shakara Maggitt still marvels at Professor Marianne Shockley's ability to get others to love and accept insects.
"I don't know to this day how she actually did it. She just did," Maggitt told "48 Hours" contributor Jonathan Vigliotti in an interview for "The Strange Death of Professor Shockley."
Shockley, a star professor at the University of Georgia, died suddenly in a hot tub on Mother's Day 2019.
Known around campus as "Doc Shock," Shockley's specialty was entomophagy — eating insects — and she hoped sharing her passion with her students might contribute to solving world hunger.
You might say Professor Shockley had quite the appetite for bugs. "She wanted everyone to get on board with eating bugs," Maggitt laughed.
"That was her thing?" Vigliotti asked.
"That was her thing."
Shockley believed insects were a good protein source and could help solve world hunger. And today, Maggitt is a graduate student with her own taste for bugs, a passion she wants others to experience.
"So, you're actually looking at whole crickets … roasted," Maggitt explained as she and Vigliotti tasted the insects. "It reminds me of just eating sunflower seeds. … And it's like a really good snack."
"It's bittersweet," Maggitt said of Shockley. "I would love for her to actually be here …And I'm going to continue her legacy and her mission."
Maggitt is continuing Shockley's mission. She confirmed her research shows that chickens aren't the only farm animal that could benefit from eating insects. Her new data now predicts that cattle could also safely feed on bugs.