UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?

PolygamousRanchKid writes in with news about a U.N. plan to get more bugs in your belly. "The U.N. has new weapons to fight hunger, boost nutrition and reduce pollution, and they might be crawling or flying near you right now: edible insects. The Food and Agriculture Organization on Monday hailed the likes of grasshoppers, ants and other members of the insect world as an underutilized food for people, livestock and pets. Insects are 'extremely efficient' in converting feed into edible meat, the agency said. Most insects are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases, and also feed on human and food waste, compost and animal slurry, with the products being used for agricultural feed, the agency said. 'Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly,' the agency said, adding they leave a 'low environmental footprint.' The agency noted that its Edible Insect Program is also examining the potential of arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions."

Comments

"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Anonymous Coward]

I say "Because OMFG, gross!!!"

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Guido von Guido II]

I say "Because OMFG, gross!!!"

We already eat other arthropods, like shrimp, crab, crawfish and lobster.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[slim]

Pretty much this.

I'll eat pretty much anything. I've had Japanese colleagues play "take the gaijin to the izakaya and gross him out with weird foods", and I won (not that shirako is exactly pleasant...).

But even I find the idea of eating insects a bit revolting. I mean, I'd give it a go, but I'd grimace a bit the first few times.

In order to make any kind of impact, insect-eating would have to become really mainstream. We live in a society where lots of people won't even eat tripe, trotters, tongue or black pudding. Good luck getting these people to eat insects.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[bagboy]

When people imagine insects as food they always think that means in some manner of native/raw form. Who says you cannot mix them with other meats or even heat dry and grind them as a powder additive to other foods? The nutrition is what we are looking for here - not necessarily the "grossing out" of folks.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[slim]

Who says you cannot mix them with other meats or even heat dry and grind them as a powder additive to other foods? The nutrition is what we are looking for here - not necessarily the "grossing out" of folks.

Unless you're going to covertly introduce ground insects to food, people will know. And if they know, they'll be grossed out.

Personal experience suggests to me that at least a third of people in the UK are grossed out by black pudding -- part of our culinary heritage! There's nothing outwardly unappealing about a slice of black pudding. But people have been told that it's made of blood, and that's enough to put them off.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[bickerdyke]

Coincidentally, that's exactly the same thing Hindus say about eating beef. Or half of the world about eating pork. Or 95% about oysters. Or anyone besides the french about "escargots"...

I find the idea gross, too. But there is a differenc between something that is gross and something you've been raised to find gross.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[ShanghaiBill]

But even I find the idea of eating insects a bit revolting. I mean, I'd give it a go

You have probably already "given it a go". Have you ever had cherry yogurt? Read the ingredients. It usually contains the red dye carmine which is made from beetles.

I have eaten lots of bugs. Once you get past the squeamishness, they are good. Honey ants are delicious. Fried grasshoppers have a wonderful crunch. When I was in Panama, I had sauteed banana spiders that tasted like shrimp.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[larry bagina]

With shrimp, crab, and lobster, I eat select parts, not the whole thing. Let me know when grasshopper legs are the size (and taste) of king crab legs.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[ShanghaiBill]

Or anyone besides the french about "escargots"...

Actually Portugueses eat a lot of snails too (google for caracóis).

The are also commonly eaten in most of Asia and Africa. In fact, I think that English speaking countries are about the only ones that don't eat them.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[BasilBrush]

Unless you're going to covertly introduce ground insects to food, people will know. And if they know, they'll be grossed out.

Red food dye. Cochineal. Made from ground up cochineals. Insects. Plenty know, plenty don't know. Pretty much nobody cares, because they were brought up with it.

Same goes for black pudding, tripe and haggis. People that were brought up on it don't care. So the trick is to get people when they are young.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but you're probably British, and centuries of boiling food have accustomed your people to eating anything in dim hopes of some sort of flavor.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Immerman]

Indeed, it's a cultural problem that we'll likely have to rectify going forward, unless we either wipe out a large portion of the human population or all go vegetarian. We're already at something like 160% of the estimated sustainable global food production - i.e. we're "spending the capital", producing food at the expense of future soil fertility. Of course somewher between 50% and 75% of that gets thrown away in most Western countries, which is another problem we need to rectify - but regardless, as the bulk of the world's population begins to adopt a more affluent Western-inspired diet there's going to need to be some major changes to make it sustainable. There's also the fact that eating meat in Western quantities appears to cause significant health problems over the long term, but I don't expect that to actually factor in to too many people's dietary choices, like sugar meat is just too delicious for most to pass up, and for much the same reason - it's a concentrated source of readily accessible calories and nutrients.

Insects are something like 9x more efficient at converting plant mass to protein than cows, yielding 9 pounds of meet per 10 pounds of feed, and almost 3x more efficient than chickens, which are about the most efficient meat animals used in the USA. Moreover most insects are perfectly happy eating leaves, stems, and other cellulose-rich biomass that we can't digest. Of course cows evolved to eat the same thing, but their growth rate (and hence profitability) is considerably better on grains and other human-suitable foods, and there's still that abysmal meat:feed ratio.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Joce640k]

I'm posting from Spain, where black pudding is called "morcilla". I think blood sausages are eaten all over Europe.

(I only had haggis about five times in my life, there's no place I know that sells it, snif. Wonder if they sell it on eBay...)

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Joce640k]

Wonder if they sell it on eBay...)

Update: Yes they do... 8-)

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[TheCarp]

> But even I find the idea of eating insects a bit revolting. I mean, I'd give it a go, but I'd grimace a bit
> the first few times

Its not so bad, hell in some forms, you wont even notice, take it from me.... I have done it.

We had some grubs infest a bag of rice in our pantry area. Funny thing about grubs, they don't look so different from rice. The whole family was sitting down to eat, we were about halfway through the meal when i thought one of the grains looked "burnt", then I noticed it also seemed to be made up of a number of ring segments, which is odd for rice.

It took a few moments before I figured it out and let everyone know that there were grubs in the rice, and not just a few, quite a lot actually.

Of course, everyone looked disgusted, stopped eating the rice, and tossed the rest of the bag.... but up until that point, nobody had noticed. In fact, we had probably been eating steamed grubs with our rice a couple of times a week for a while.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[SuricouRaven]

Insect size is limited by oxygen concentration. No lungs, they rely on diffusion. Arthropods you could grow giant though.

Or you could raise the insects in an enriched oxygen atmosphere - it isn't expensive to bump it up a bit. Added bonus: You can run a petting zoo. Because who wouldn't want to stroke the five-foot-wide butterfly?

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[bossk538]

you don't eat softshell crab?

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[poity]

Somehow I doubt they really feel a visceral disgust on the same level as people do with insects. I mean, Jews/Muslims shun pork, but eat other things like chicken/lamb/beef that are very similar in experience; Hindus shun beef, but eat chicken/pork/lamb that are very similar in experience. Oysters I can understand, since not every country has access to the sea. It would seem to me that disgust for a particular item WITHIN a category of food would not be quite as strong as disgust for an ENTIRE category of food.

Any Muslims/Hindus/Jews like to add to this?

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[GNious]

Copenhagen restaurant Noma have won "Best Restaurant" a few times, on a menu that included candied ants.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Kreigaffe]

That is brilliant.

Introducing deep fried american foods to europeans is fun too. Reaction is usually a statement of them now understanding why there's a weight problem in our country -- not derisively, either. Just straight up, "I'd eat this until I was fat as hell, too".

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Ol Biscuitbarrel]

And good luck with that: "Derivatives from cochineal are increasing in use due to the influence of the "natural" trend. Cochineal extract and carmine are ideally suited and utilized for a variety of food products, including meat, sausages, and red marinades. Cochineal and its derivatives find further important application in fruit preparations, jams, gelatin desserts, juice beverages, non-carbonated soft-drinks, baked goods, confections, icings, toppings and dairy products." Cochineal/Carmine Provide Hues of Red and Purple

There's a whole host of substances people utilize or ingest that have rather unsavory sources. Best to just not think about it.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[ericcc65]

Same goes for black pudding, tripe and haggis. People that were brought up on it don't care. So the trick is to get people when they are young.

"Willie: Get your Haggis right here! Chopped heart and lungs boiled in a wee sheep's stomach! Tastes as good as it sounds!"

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[DragonWriter]

Somehow I doubt they really feel a visceral disgust on the same level as people do with insects. I mean, Jews/Muslims shun pork, but eat other things like chicken/lamb/beef that are very similar in experience

That seems to be a perfect analog to people shunning insects but eating other things like crayfish/crabs/lobsters/shrimp.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[chthon]

I have seen a lot of things about eating insects, but there are two things to add.

Some insects just taste like dirt or earth or mould. I once bit into a plum which was infested with larvae, and it really tasted horrific. Escargots are tasty because they are fed on grape leaves, but normal snails also taste like dirt (my father in law once accidentally ate one on a strawberry).

Second, keratin is not digestible, and the smaller the insect, the more keratin it contains versus digestible parts. What is crunchy in some insects is just shell.

There is no doubt that grasshoppers contain enough protein to e.g. stop kwashiorkor.

I think the world would be better suited with learning people that they do not need to eat so much meat. Meat should rise in price, less meat should be produced over all. This would have two effects: more people could live by producing meat, because they would not need to raise as much animals. The health of people would also rise, because of consuming less meat.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[jez9999]

Because who wouldn't want to stroke the five-foot-wide butterfly?

Yep or the giant spider cage is good too.

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Comboman]

Tongue is straight-up delicious.

The best part is, while you're tasting it...it's tasting you!

Re:"UN Says: Why Not Eat More Insects?"

[Immerman]

Heck, for that matter we can't digest almost anything without the aid of our gut bacteria - in fact we couldn't survive long at all without the symbiosis of dozens (hundreds?) of different bacteria. Half the sugars in human milk are actually indigestible by humans, they exist to promote the growth of gut bacteria that the child will need to survive later in life. We're only beginning to reconize the interconnections, but the basic truth seems to be that life on Earth is microbial, with a few macroscopic species around that have learned to work with their diminutive cousins. Heck, supposedly the cells in our own bodies are outnumbered 10:1 by bacteria, a number that sounds ridiculous until you consider that the average bacteria is about 1/10 the diameter of the average human cell, or 1/1000 the volume (~= mass since we're all mostly water). Given that I would think the 6 lbs of bacteria in the average human would translate to a 600lb human, so either our bacteria are larger than average, or the 10:1 ratio is only an order of magnitude estimate.

So anyway, I tend to regard "macroscopic organism + symbiotes" as a single "entity" for most purposes. Dairy cows actually suffer horribly because they are typically fed grain which gives much higher milk yields, but the bacteria that aid in digesting grain are much harsher on the cow's system, and life expectancy typically drops by 30-50% over grass-fed cows.

Why not Zoidberg?

[Sockatume]

I started carefully reconsidering my emotional response on insects as food when I really considered the use of the term "mud bugs" for delicious little crawfish. It's totally apt: those little things (and most of the shellfish I eat) aren't really all that un-bug-like. Now I'm quite looking forward to trying some if the opportunity arises.

You first

[Marrow]

See the whole part about them eating human waste and slurry and that stuff you just said? Thats why we dont eat bugs.

Re:You first

[SJHillman]

What do you think plants feast on? Then we eat the plants or the animals that eat those plants. It might not be human waste we tend to use as fertilizer, but it's got roughly the same "ick" factor.

Re:You first

[poity]

But most of the fish we eat do the same thing.
I don't see why we can't make protein powder from insects. Then you just need some celebs to endorse it and make it cool.

Re:You first

[firex726]

You actually can buy flower wit ground up meal-worms currently.

Re:You first

[0xdeadbeef]

If you eat or drink anything red, you're probably eating ground up insects.

Re:You first

[gsgriffin]

I see your point, but as someone that travels a lot to 3rd world conditions to help the poor (Kenya tomorrow), I can tell you that the UN often doesn't think things through well. The problem with this is two-fold: 1) Insects can digest and carry more disease than plants. The fact that insects are animal and not plant allows them to be carriers...like Malaria for mosquitos. 2) The insects are actually crawling around in the crap. Plants aren't. Food needs to be prepared carefully. This care of washing and cooking to the right temperature and separating raw meat cutting surface from cooked meat surface is not well practiced around the world.

While there may be same "value" in this food, I would easily imagine more people getting sick from trying to eat the insects and digesting the bad stuff inside and outside them.

Want to see other bad ideas from the UN, look up their Perma-Culture. While the concept is proven and helpful, try to going to poor people barely growing enough food and convince them to go 4 year with below normal crops in hopes that 7 years from now you will have a bumper crop...oh, yeh, then through in a drought every 7 years and see how much this idea helps.

Re:You first

[slim]

If you eat or drink anything red, you're probably eating ground up insects.

From that very article: "As of 2005, the market price of cochineal was between 50 and 80 USD per kilogram, while synthetic raw food dyes are available at prices as low as 10–20 USD per kilogram."

So most red things probably aren't coloured with cochineal.

Re:You first

[gsgriffin]

Thank you for demonstrating my point. Though this article, quoting the UN, talks about insect farming AS ONE OF THE OPTIONS, they want to promote this as an alternative for more people around the world who are suffering from malnutrition, the article says. Here is the how this would play out:

People that are malnourished are often so because of lack of money to purchase food. If people start eating more insects, the poor (and malnourished) will try to get the bugs themselves or farm them (they won't have the money to purchase them). The result will be a more dangerous diet.

While many will look at this article in the context of their own living situation, the common failure of the UN is understanding how this will translate in the poor around the world.

Perma-culture, since you doubt it, too, can be easily looked up. I was in Zimbabwe last summer in areas where the UN had already been working with farmers. They were all talking about the UN reps and their plan to use perma culture as a way to improve yield. Not one of them was even going to try it, nor could they, unless they wanted their family to starve in the first three years.

My point is to step outside of our worldview when proposing ways to help and understand what will really happen when we head down a road. This is not a good idea and will be shot down by people that have real practical experience and knowledge in 3rd world conditions.

Parasites

[ArtemaOne]

I was thinking this sounded like a decent idea, but then remembered how many grasshoppers I've seen with parasites. I don't consider this worth the risk for me personally.

Re:Parasites

[Anonymous Coward]

Grashoppers are best deep fried with a slug of tequilla on the side. Any parasite surviving that means we're in real trouble.

Re:Parasites

[Xest]

I think that's the biggest problem by far. For most meats like beef and so forth we have rigorous food safety standards and testing facilities. Adapting those to both the very different biology, very different scale (in terms of physical size, and number of creatures we'd need to test), and very different diseases related to insects is going to be where the problems are.

Re:Parasites

[Captain Hook]

You are worried about parasites in an insect but happily eat other mammals whose parasites are far more likely to be evolved to infest us?

Parasites in insects can be dealt with in the same same humans deal with almost parasites in our food, we cooked the meal first.

Re:Parasites

[serviscope_minor]

We have that down for mammal meat.

We have that down for everything. Unless they are infested with extremophiles, then 80C will do the job. And the happy thing is that (a) extremophiles are archaeans and (b) there are astonishingly no known pathogenic archaeans.

Re:Parasites

[Xest]

"(b) there are astonishingly no known pathogenic archaeans."

To be fair, there was also nothing known quite like AIDS until someone decided it'd be a good idea to start eating the local monkeys and it crossed over into humans.

I think we'd have to accept that increasing our diet of insects is going to increase the possibility of new and fairly unique diseases. Things like the most nasty strains of bird flu we've seen have come about largely because of the way we farm chickens, the quantity of them, and the proximity of humans working with them. We can't preclude the idea that increased exposure to insects in greater numbers and possibly equally as unsanitary conditions as we farm chickens wont lead to super-strains of Malaria or whatever.

I'm not saying I'm against the idea or anything, but I absolutely think it's something we shouldn't jump into blindly without considering the possible implications and mitigating the risks. I don't think it's something we could start just doing tomorrow without any consideration as to how we're going to do it safely - if we start farming insects by the billions you have to keep in mind that that's billions of new hosts for diseases to propagate and mutate in at a way faster rate than they can in the natural environment given the confined spaces we'd likely be farming them in, and also, if done in the proximity of humans there's much greater risk of interspecies transfer.

Re:Parasites

[serviscope_minor]

To be fair, there was also nothing known quite like AIDS until someone decided it'd be a good idea to start eating the local monkeys and it crossed over into humans.

I'm not sure if that was the exact cause but your point stands. However, the difference there is that monkeys are comparitively close to humans.

We can't preclude the idea that increased exposure to insects in greater numbers and possibly equally as unsanitary conditions as we farm chickens wont lead to super-strains of Malaria or whatever.

Interesting choice: malaria since it does indeed infect insects (mosquitos) and humans.

That said, the further you diverge, the less parasites are able to cross infect. The thing with Malaria is that it's specifically targeting mosquitos as part of its life cycle, not as a cross infection.

I agree with your point: there is a risk.

However, given that our knowledge of disease has increased vastly and we still know of no archaean pathogens and the chances of a pathogen being (a) archaean, (b) heat proof extremophile and (c) somehow heatproof, extrempophile and living in insects rather than hot springs is extremely small.

Given that, I'd wager my health on thoroughly cooking at a sufficient temperature being sufficient to kill infectious agents.

And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[eldavojohn]

I say "Because OMFG, gross!!!"

If you live in the United States, you likely already engage in accidental entomophagy. Allow me to introduce you to the USDA's guide to what are the acceptable levels of insects in your food. Go head and CTRL+F on that page for 'insects.'

Having particularly good eyesight, I don't think I've ever eaten a blackberry that didn't have thrips or aphids on it. Guess what? They're delicious on blackberries!

Of course, getting my Wilderness Survival merit badge on my way to Eagle Scout gave me the opportunity to forage for edible insects and I would actually recommend the fly larvae that attach to grassland stalks and form 'bulbs' around them. Taste like walnuts! Too bad it takes forever to harvest them or I'd make a product out of that for the granola-brains community.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[OldeTimeGeek]

Yes, but would most people eat a handful of aphids all at once? There's a huge difference between eating the odd insect part or two because they were accidentally introduced in the process and choosing to eat them.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[wonkey_monkey]

Allow me to introduce you to the USDA's guide to what are the acceptable levels of insects in your food.

And if that doesn't gross you out, go ahead and google around for the acceptable upper limit of faeces. There is one, and it's not zero.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[TheRealMindChild]

To be fair, there is a measurable amount of feces on EVERYTHING.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[jefe7777]

I never eat anything with a faece.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[FatAlb3rt]

It's in your head.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to step up to the plate and show you how it's done, but it's in your head. A staunch vegetarian is probably as repulsed at the thought of eating a medium rare steak as you are that handful of aphids.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[squidflakes]

Funny enough, staunch vegetarians also unknowingly consume insects.

Agreed about it all being in people's heads though. I'd be all for some delicious grasshopper crunchies, or even a Bacon, Lettuce, and Termite sandwich.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[Synerg1y]

It's a little deeper than you think in there... in the nature vs nurture debate our predisposition to insects falls into the nature part probably under instincts, so have fun overriding that one.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[cayenne8]

I wonder how soon we'll start to hear problems with GMO grasshoppers and other insects?

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[Curupira]

It's a little deeper than you think in there... in the nature vs nurture debate our predisposition to insects falls into the nature part probably under instincts, so have fun overriding that one.

Obviously, you've never been in China.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[MightyYar]

In my middle age, I've taken to eating all sorts of things that used to disgust me. Once you pop a snail out of it's shell and suck it down, how bad could a grasshopper be? Goose liver foi gras is disturbing in concept and morality, yet it can be quite tasty. I actually prefer fish prepared whole now, whereas I used to want boneless filets only. And really, is there any insect more horrifying in appearance than a crab or lobster?

The one place I haven't been able to go is native in the Philippines.

Re:And You Are Some Magic Insect Sorting Entity?

[Zontar The Mindless]

Agreed about it all being in people's heads though.

*ahem*

I can't eat anything that has more than 4 legs.

Every so often, I order fish someplace and they bring it with a bonus prawn or two on top. Which means I get to send it right back for a new one, as even a bit of cross-contamination can cause an unpleasant reaction. ("This time, please do not merely remove the crustaceans that have dripped their juice on the fish and bring the very same fish back out to me as you've just tried to do. My family are really very nice people who don't like filing lawsuits. Thanks.")

People actually express sympathy when I explain to them, sure I can broil some crabs for them if they'd like, I'll just have to fix myself something else... Which is weird, when you think about it--how can I miss something I can't eat anyway? (Even weirder--how can I be so good at cooking things that I daren't eat myself?)

I did try a fried grasshopper once. While it didn't knock me flat on my back for the next day or so, the way eating a bite of lobster would, I still got a fair case of indigestion--something I normally almost never suffer from.

Re:But why not settle for vegetarianism?

[operagost]

Because they don't have Whole Foods stores whence to get their environmentally-conscious tofu.

In case you didn't notice, agriculture is difficult in these countries that are ruled by warlords and have intemperate climates.

because meat is tasty

[aepervius]

There is a good reason if given choice we eat meat , because it is tasty, because we have the taste bud for it. Because our stomach is also made to consume various stuff including meat, we are omnivore, not vegetarian or carnivore. Now why not insect ? Giant Grasshoper grilled and dunked in honey. Eggs from spider. Various insect I tried. They all taste OK-ish. But compared to a good prime ribe steak ? No way they taste as good.

Re:because meat is tasty

[rvw]

And the truth is, meat actually isn't all that expensive. If it were, maybe there would be pressure for this or other "extreme measures", but as it farming techology keeps improving at a much faster rate than demand for meat. In real terms, meat is cheaper now than at any point in human history, and we should be proud of that.

More and more people in India and China alone earn more and more money and want to eat more meat. They are not big meat eaters like in the US, they simply cannot afford it, but they can afford a little bit more. And because they are so many, they take up a increasing part of the market. For each cow we can produce 10x the food in weat and corn etc. The result is that for every cow we lose 10x the food production in other products, so we lose 90% of production capacity. I don't know of any method that can handle this.

Re:because meat is tasty

[Aguazul2]

There is a good reason if given choice we eat meat , because it is tasty, because we have the taste bud for it.

We learn out tastes. If your culture ate insects every day, it'd find a way to prepare them that brings out their flavours. If you were brought up eating insects, they would remind you of your childhood. Some bloody mess of half rotten cow wouldn't be so appetising if you'd never become accustomed to it. (I'm certainly not attracted to it.)

Re:because meat is tasty

[SteveFoerster]

At least in the U.S., there are subsidies for agribusiness that make it cheaper in the store than it would otherwise be. Were it not for this, people might be more interested in substitutes. Probably not bugs, though.

How do they taste?

[Kelbear]

If they don't taste good, or if you can't gin up appealing recipes for them, nobody'll eat'em. Aside from countries that are already eating these insects, convincing other countries to cast aside cultural taboos on insect consumption will be difficult. Even if you price them cheaply, there is still a price floor from costs of transportation to bring them to market.

I wonder how you'd market this product? What kind of pitch do you make? Talk up how it's all-natural, earth-friendly, or high in nutrition? One way or another, somewhere on the product you'll have to cop to the fact that you're selling bugs as food, which is a massive hurdle in western countries. The easiest way would probably be to just blend them up, and batterfry them or cover'em in chocolate to get people to ease into the idea of eating them.

I can get over the visuals of eating bugs if you can make it taste good. Escargot doesn't look all that different from some bugs. Ate fried mealworm too (and it was TERRIBLE, like eating pure flour).

Re:How do they taste?

[Hans Adler]

Obviously, in affluent countries you will have to make them expensive, not cheap.

Insects aren't so different from shrimps, and apparently grasshoppers have a similar taste. Here is an article on the taste of insects: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniella-martin/what-do-bugs-taste-like-a_b_901775.html

Re:How do they taste?

[bickerdyke]

Even if you price them cheaply, there is still a price floor from costs of transportation to bring them to market.

I wonder how you'd market this product?

Wrong sales tactic. You need to set the price as high as possible to sell otherwise unsellable stuff. Caviar, escargots, oysters....

Re:How do they taste?

[Joehonkie]

Grasshoppers do not taste even slightly like shrimp, sorry.

Re:Why not eat...

[SJHillman]

Well, soylent green sure as hell ain't grasshoppers.

Lobsters

[yoghurt]

We already eat lobsters, crab and shrimp. And you don't have to directly eat the insects, you can process them through a hog to get yummy bacon.

That's 8 drumettes per critter, y'all

[rot26]

I have been told that roasted spiders taste just like shrimp.

I will never know first hand of course.

Enough!

[Evtim]

I have just had enough of all this!!!

Look, if we preserve the way we do things as civilization, there is never going to be enough. Of anything. Ever.

At this moment there is enough food to feed well the whole humanity. Period.
At this moment if we stop our Ponzi scheme of a civilization and continue to develop technology while the need for ever increasing number of people and consumption per person is gone we will have ever more per person. Do you hear me? Finite demand in infinite Universe - is that so hard to understand?

Why is everyone hailing the "green revolution"? What did it do to us? Allowed us what, 2 decades of "phew, we fed the world" warm feeling? While replacing food with tasteless accelerated growth watery fodder! You know, people pay premium prices for "biological food", but in fact this is food. Not biological , just food. The other stuff is different - processed food. This should be the division - food and process food, rather than food and biological food.

Without going into discussion why and what , here is a statement for you - the green revolution did not "save people from starvation" Those people where already there. Understand! Noone started developing the revolution in anticipation of an increasing population. The increased population was already there. It existed, therefore it had food to eat. Instead the green revolution increased the yield so we can throw the food in the sea to keep the price "right". The revolution helped very little (if at all) the actual people that were lived with malnutrition.

So now we will eat the bugs. Then the fungi and the rest of the microorganisms. And then what? "Low environmental impact"? Are you kidding me? So 1 billion people eating beef or 3 billion eating insects - what is the difference. As I said it many years ago here - there is no "low environmental impact" as long as the Ponzi scheme works. More efficient engines - cars get cheaper - people buy more cars. Better plane engines - cheaper prices - people fly more. And so on...ad infinitum.

We are trying to cheat reality! It won't work!! It never does!!! Why nobody hears?! The whole issue is as usual heavily distorted by political and business interests. Why am I surprised...

Re:Insecticides

[Joce640k]

Wild insects are loaded with insecticides.

This word "insecticide". I don't think it means what you think it means.

Re:But why not settle for vegetarianism?

[Sockatume]

Believe it or not there are some fats and protein in vegetables. It's entirely possible (if a bit of a culture shock) to satisfy your dietary needs with a completely vegan diet.

I say that as someone who made some really kick-ass sliders at the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Re:Insecticides

[Joey Vegetables]

Incorrect. Insects have successfully adapted to a wide variety of both natural and man-made insecticides which, though no longer fatal for them, may still be harmful to us.

Great....

[CFBMoo1]

This could bring a whole new meaning to debugging code when you mix chocolete covered ants and touch screen computing.

Potential fish feed?

[Dr. Spork]

Farmed carnivorous fish right now get fed bycatch, a slurry of little fish of no commercial value that fishermen pull out of the sea. There are many problems with this, one of them being the mercury that concentrates in the farmed fish and eventually humans. I wonder if they would be able to feed on farmed insects, which could be obtained in a much more responsible way, and clean of poisonous metals.

Re:But why not settle for vegetarianism?

[CRCulver]

Humans cannot survive on full veg diet for long.

Never been to India? Members of the Brahmin caste in Hinduism have survived on a pure vegetarian diet for forever. Fat can be had from milk. Indian cuisine prominently features vegetables like lentils that are high in protein.

Surviving on a purely vegan diet has not been possible for the human race until recently. However, there are centuries of evidence to show that populations can survive on a pure vegetarian diet.

chocolate coated ants

[TapeCutter]

If they don't taste good, or if you can't gin up appealing recipes for them, nobody'll eat'em

I accidentally ate chocolate coated ants once. My wife had left half a mars bar neatly wrapped in the console, I spotted it while driving and with one deft movement popped the whole thing into my mouth without taking my eyes off the road. At first I thought I had hair on my face but it soon became apparent some ants were also feasting on the chocolate. I wound down the window and spat the ball of half chewed insects and toffee out the window. For the next half hour if felt like I had hair stuck at the back of my throat.

Re:chocolate coated ants

[Whorhay]

I once served hot chocolate with a boiled fly to my wife. I had prep'd a couple mugs with the hot chocolate powder and then went to do some chore while the water boiled. I came back in a few minutes and filled the mugs up without inspecting their insides. My wife was soon wondering why something with a little chew was in her sip. Apparently a fly had decided to taste test the hot chocolate and got a boiling bath. No, I still haven't lived that one down.

Re:So ants can be a source of meat

[HornWumpus]

I see your mistake. You are eating cow. You should be eating steer.

Cows are female, steers are castrated males.

Cows live for years, producing milk and calves, they taste bad as they are slaughtered only when they are no longer profitable as milk producers.

Steers live for less then a year, eating, they taste delicious.

Re:But why not settle for vegetarianism?

[Savage-Rabbit]

Humans cannot survive on full veg diet for long.

There are only 2 essential things human body needs: 1) protein 2) fat.

You don't need carbs, you don't need vegs. These 2 are what you absolutely need to survive. Eat only vegs without any protein, and all your muscles are gone within a year. Don't eat any fat for a year and you die.

Humans aren't vegetarian race, and that's why we don't eat that way. Some choose to do so on ethical basis, but these people need to get essential stuff for us that's only got from meat, from other sources, usually pills. Like B12 vitamin. Drop that and you drop dead pretty quickly.

Humans are not carnivores either they are omnivores. It is one of the secrets of our evolutionary success. If it looked like it could possibly be edible humans would try to eat it. Humans have even developed methods for making otherwise toxic fruit, vegetables and meat edible that are so complex it make you wonder how they figured them out in the first place. If you try to subsist only on a diet of meat you will start feeling some effects just like if you go vegan without supplements. The first one is probably going to be scurvy unless you start eating your meat raw or rather rarely cooked and start eating parts of the animal that are normally not eaten by modern westerners but that contain vitamins such as certain internal organs, eyeballs, spinal fluid (you suck it out of the spine like a straw) and the skin. Of course these would have to be eaten raw or cooked very rare since too much cooking will break down the vitamins. Are those fruits and vegetables starting to look good yet? And before you answer keep in mind that raw or rarely cooked meat can contain some nasty parasites.

Re:Or... just stop breeding like rabbits

[Anonymous Coward]

Whether it be religion, lax government regulations, or just plain sexual addiction, we have concocted an endless list of reasons to justify lack of control when it comes to procreation. So... we have a planet with too many humans, and not a lot of food. Until we fix our little willpower problem, "bugs" are not a solution - that's just ignoring the problem with a VERY disgusting fix.

The planet has enough food to feed everyone several times over each day. Quantity is not the problem. Distribution is.

Religion

[ameen.ross]

I'm sure nobody here's interested, but here goes.

In Islam, insects are prohibited as food. Locusts are an exception (the only one AFAIK), so they may be eaten.

What about the other major religions?

Re:Religion

[iggymanz]

animals that are basically insects from the sea are permitted in some sects of Islam (such as lobsters)

Re:Religion

[Rogue Haggis Landing]

What about the other major religions?

There are some pretty explicit food laws in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Chapter 14 of Deuteronomy gives a good list. 14:19 says, "And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten." This is presumably referring to insects, so they're out. Also out are pigs, camels, rabbits, anything from the water that doesn't have scales and fins (God hates shrimp!), any animal that "dies of itself" (i.e., carrion), and a smattering of other animals -- no eating bats, people.

Anyone who is actually keeping kosher will follow these laws, which means most Orthodox Jews and many other Jews. Not many Christians follow these dietary laws, but some do.

Waiter!

[sp1nl0ck]

There's some soup on my fly!

Show us the way, UN

[DNS-and-BIND]

I'll go for this when the dining rooms at the United Nations serve insects instead of Foie Gras Terrine with Brandied Cherry, on pretzel bread or Lamb Tartare on Japanese cracker with Tsar Sturgeon Caviar. And not insects as an option, either. I'm talking all the other stuff is off the menu.

Oh, it won't be happening? You mean we proles get to eat insects while the UN gets Seared Beef Filet with Onion Soup Boule, Asparagus, and Bearnaise Sauce or Roasted Veal Medallions with N.Y. Pretzel Crumbs, Bockwurst, and Mustard Sauce? Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. Fuck you, UN.

Re:Show us the way, UN

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Marie Antoinette: "Let them eat cake!"

UN: "Let them eat bugs!"

Re:Or... just stop breeding like rabbits

[Megane]

Hint: population is actually going down in developed countries. The only reason US population keeps going up is an influx mostly from the lesser-developed countries to the south. Japan is headed for a crisis where they will have problems finding enough people to take care of their elderly without increasing immigration. Right now the big overpopulation problems are China and India.

One of the main factors is when children turn from an asset into a liability. In pre-industrial cultures, more children are needed to account for child mortality, and the lack of child labor laws lets them provide income. Once child mortality goes down (as it has in the 20th century), population skyrockets until "big family" culture goes away. In post-industrial cultures, children are a drain on income and leisure time, leading to later and fewer children. Given the progress of civilization, and assuming no major wars or other problems that affect population or lifestyle, it's entirely possible that humans could top out at (IIRC) 11ish billion before shrinking back.

Re:Or... just stop breeding like rabbits

[Nidi62]

Whether it be religion, lax government regulations, or just plain sexual addiction, we have concocted an endless list of reasons to justify lack of control when it comes to procreation. So... we have a planet with too many humans, and not a lot of food. Until we fix our little willpower problem, "bugs" are not a solution - that's just ignoring the problem with a VERY disgusting fix.

You are missing the entire reason why some places(read: third world/developing states) have higher birth rates than others: survival. Families in poor areas need to be larger so that they can earn enough income or grow enough food for the family to survive. Add to this a higher infant/child mortality rate and you get families that have as many children as possible because they know some won't survive, and they need as many surviving children as possible. As conditions within the state improve (better healthcare, stronger economy, stronger government, better access to food), birth rates always go down, because families need fewer children to support the family, and those children that they do have are more likely to not only survive, but remain healthy. The problem is twofold: first off birth rate always lags behind societal and government reforms; secondly these reforms are in many cases extremely hard to enact. Corrupt local governments, warlords, famine, even the presence of things like diamonds, gold, or oil make it incredibly hard to make these reforms. If you want to solve population pressure, you have a whole mess of other problems that need to be solved first. Either that, or just start a couple wars.

It is a farce.

[Anonymous Coward]

World hunger is not a production or availability problem. It is a distribution problem. America alone can already grow enough grain to feed the entire planet a couple times over. Doing so, however, would make the bottom drop out of the grain market and have disastrous economic consequences. That is exactly why the American government pays farmers to not grow food.

More info here.

Re:It is a farce.

[Hatta]

"It's a distribution problem", which is to say "It's a capitalism problem".

Cicadas

[Curunir_wolf]

Here on the East Coast we're about be inundated with the 17-year cicadas (Brood II). Everybody eats cicadas, even squirrels and your pets. Looking forward to seeing some good cicada recipes when the things get plentiful.

Bugmeal instead of fishmeal

[HighOrbit]

Please don't consume bugs directly. Use ground-up bugmeal for animal feed instead of fishmeal. I've actually thought about this for some time. Tons & Tons of anchovies and sardines are caught every day to the point that the overfishing is stressing the food chain in the oceans because there are fewer prey fish for the bigger fish (like tuna) to eat(especially off the coast of Peru which is the biggest achovy fishery) . Almost all of the anchovies (like high 90s%) and a significant amount of the sardines are ground into fishmeal for use as animal/aquaculture feed. Why not replace that with bugs for similiar protein content in the feed? This would allow the fisheries to recover which in turn will bring up the population of the fish we actually consume directly (tuna, mackerel, etc).

Re:It is a farce... not really

[mexsudo]

Yes, distribution is a HUGE problem. The virtue is that nourishing tasty bugs can be propagated everywhere. No more dependence on transporting everything vast distances.

Re:I doubt your numbers.

[Immerman]

Hmm, I believe it was a TED talk a year or two ago, the fellow was part of a push to get the EU to endorse insects as a food source (or maybe it was the UN and he succeeded). At any rate the meat:feed ratios were roughly in line with your chart, as I remember them they were:
cow 1:10
pig 2:10
chicken 3:10
insect 9:10

As for the "magic" of milk - I think that's likely due to the fact that cow milk is almost entirely water, which is quite heavy. Only about 4% of it is fat, and I think the other protein and nutrients total even less. Ever purchased powdered milk? There's really not much there to make a gallon of rehydrated milk - pound for pound milk is a pretty lousy food source.

Re:More food equals more people

[DragonWriter]

When will people realize that every time we increase the food supply in a region, the population increases in the same proportion.

Never, because its not true.

There will always be starvation until people slow their breeding down to zero population growth, or dare I even suggest it, negative growth.

Which actually has happened in many of the more developed parts of the world: economic development (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, doesn't seem to happen in places with inadequate food supply), especially when coupled with a political-econonmic system with a strong social safety net, strongly tending to produce reduced (and often even negative) rates of natural population growth.

So the best way to deal with the problem you seem concerned about regarding population growth rates is to assure that the conditions for strong economic development -- including adequate food supply -- are present in as much of the world as possible.

Quite right.

[bdwoolman]

And, paradoxically, the arthropods we do eat are foul feeders. It is common knowledge that crabs and lobsters and their ilk eat sea-bottom carrion. Many insects (also arthropods of course) are vegetarians (take crickets). There are tribes in South America that think eating shrimp is disgusting (and with some justification), but who will scarf down a cricket with relish. There was a good upbeat article in the New Yorker some time ago on bug eating... Hmmm. Found the New Yorker citation, anyway. Paywalled so no link.

DEPT. OF GASTRONOMY GRUB BY DANA GOODYEAR ,AUG 15, 2011 (P.38) ANNALS OF GASTRONOMY about entomophagy (eating insects). Insects were among the original specialty foods in the American gourmet marketplace...

I lived in Thailand for about five years and have eaten my share of bugs by choice. Toasted hoppers are very nice. And my particular favorite is a rich brown sauce made from rice bugs. I confess that for some time I thought it was made from peanuts. But once I found out it was made from big fat rice bugs I paused, shrugged, and continued to eat it.

I am not so fond of lizards... However, rural decorum has forced me to eat a few dishes of kow paht (fried rice) that included them. It is amazing how quickly one can adapt to new foods. Chocolate is notorious for its allowable inclusion of bug parts (as another poster has pointed out.). I have known this since boyhood. It never stopped me from eating a Hershey bar. The truth is pretty much everything that moves is edible. Plants, however, are a different matter. Many are highly toxic. Best to know what you are doing before tossing up a bush salad. My guess is that the "foraging" fad is going to kill a few people. They should stick to bugs. Much safer.

Honey.

[bdwoolman]

Bee excretia anyone? Excretia, not excrement. There is a difference. More like bee vomit. By the way, I'll take any honey you don't want any more.

It is very interesting to see the negative reactions here to the prospect of eating these non-traditional insect foods. (In the West. Or perhaps I should I say "The North?") Anyway, such food aversions can be very powerful. People have died rather than eat survival foods like bugs and other bush tucker. Literally starving to death in the midst of plenty -- even when they are presented with the option by knowledgeable companions. As Spock would say: "Fascinating."

Re:Or... just stop breeding like rabbits

[Zontar The Mindless]

Whether it be religion, lax government regulations, or just plain sexual addiction, we have concocted an endless list of reasons to justify lack of control when it comes to procreation.

Ever hear of a thing known as "history"? You should try reading a bit of it sometime, then you'd see just how very subjective and completely backwards your perspective is. And you would also perhaps realise that for tens (maybe hundreds) of millennia--up until the last couple of centuries or so--it was the same for us as for any other species: Breed like rabbits, or die out. *Limiting* our population is by comparison a very new and very radical concept. Of course there's going to be some inertia--this goes against everything we've needed to do to ensure our survival since the first slimies slimed on the Precambrian seabed.

You mention religion. Let's look at the Roman Catholic Church. Did it ever occur to you to wonder *why* the Church holds the positions it does regarding sexuality and reproduction?

There are some very good historical reasons for them--you might, for instance, recall a little travelling show known as "The Black Death" that toured Europe pretty extensively during the Dark and Middle Ages. ("BRING OUT YOUR DEAD! BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!" Funny in a Monty Python skit now--a fact of life back then.) With millions dropping dead like flies, the Church was deeply (and justifiably) concerned that it might itself die right out. *Literally*.

So of course the Church instituted teachings intended to maximise reproduction. (In their position, I'd have done much the same, absolutely.) Only now it's 6 or 7 centuries later, we're no longer facing a possible population crash and extinction, but we've still got the teachings from those times.

(And every time I see someone use the term "sexual addiction", I can't help but think that I'm probably dealing with someone who cannot accept the simple fact that we are engineered to want to fuck as often as possible. It's baked into us.)

 

So... we have a planet with too many humans, and not a lot of food. Until we fix our little willpower problem, "bugs" are not a solution - that's just ignoring the problem with a VERY disgusting fix.

"Our little willpower problem"--dear me, I didn't realise that Church Lady had a Slashdot account.

Seriously, you come off sounding like someone's (very repressed) maiden aunt.