Extra protein anyone?

My son Joel cut up a bowl of green beans for me this afternoon and I cooked up a large pot of green bean soup with potatoes, carrots and onions along with summer savory and parsley. I love green bean soup with ham (which of course we don't have) buy I substituted it with the second last handful of real bacon bits (thanks to my dear mother). As the bacon bits were leaving my hand, I noticed there were many black bits. Oh no! Ants had gotten into the bag and now they were simmering nicely and hiding themselves among the spices.
I wondered whether to break it to the kids or not. Well they came into the kitchen and noticed the remaining handful of bacon bits crawling with ants. Joel said, oh ants are just extra protein! Some of them taste peppery and some taste minty. The last time I ate an ant though it bit my tongue. Kalia didn't even flinch but ate a couple of bacon pieces from the plate. 
So I scooped out the obvious ones floating on the top and we enjoyed our bean soup with extra protein. At least there was no danger of them biting as they were well simmered!