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Insects as Food for Humans

C. H. Curran, one of the better known earlier researchers on the taxonomy of Diptera (flies), while visiting friends for dinner found some splendid examples of fly larvae in the spinach being served, but ate them without speaking of their presence to his hosts. This incident is an example that combines fortitude, knowledge and manners. The term for eating insects is entomophagy. Throughout the history of mankind, eating insects has actually been a common idea. In the United States, the population has been rather guarded, however, of utilizing this valuable commodity. This causes some amusement when one considers that honey is a common product, but actually has been regurgitated by insects…

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Featured

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Articles of Interest

Bugs Are Safe for Humans to Eat, Says EU

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Do we all have to eat insects in the future?

If I asked you to recommend an easy, high-protein snack, what would you suggest? Maybe something creamy, like Greek yogurt or hummus. Or a snack with a crunch, like trail mix. But what you probably wouldn’t recommend? Crickets. Cockroaches. Grasshoppers.

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Farming edible insects to feed people and livestock could help improve food security and support developing economies and potentially replace conventional animal feed.

Eating insects can be good for the planet – Europeans should eat more of them

The consumption of insects has slowly increased as the benefits become widely discussed. More than 2,000 edible species have been identified. But would incorporating insects into our diets really reduce the environmental footprint of food production, and can this be achieved? Insects are high in fat, protein and nutrients. This varies between species and lifecycle stage, however the protein content of insects is frequently 40%-60%. Insects also provide all of the essential amino acids required for human nutrition.

Edible insects, a valuable protein source from ancient to modern times

Although entomophagy has been practiced by humans for thousands of years, until recently, edible insects have gained special attention due to their high nutritional value (particularly their high protein and essential amino acid content) and lower environmental impact that could help alleviate the global food demand.

Edible Insects: Why Aren’t We Eating More Bugs?

Eating insects is not new to humans — cultures around the globe have included them as dietary staples for thousands of years. The migratory locust, for example, has traditionally been consumed in countries such as Zambia, Cameroon, Thailand, and the Philippines. Some of the most popular edible insects worldwide include beetles and beetle larvae, wasps and wasp larvae, grasshoppers, and butterflies/moths. Insects are included in a variety of different dishes across numerous cultures, and their flavors are frequently compared to different types of shellfish. In fact, people with shellfish or crustacean allergies are usually advised to avoid eating insects, because they produce some of the same allergens.

Five reasons we should all be eating insects

In the West, insects are pests, a source of torment with whole industries devoted to their destruction. But they might be the key to the looming global food crisis. (The food supply has to double by 2050 to feed a projected population of 9 billion.)

For Most People, Eating Bugs Is Only Natural

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If you eat a 500 gram steak, you’re also eating about 7,700 litres of water. Most of that goes into watering the six square metres of corn or grain required to feed each half-kilo of cow. And sure, half a kilo of cow served with salad and fries is a tasty meal, but it’s also a grossly inefficient way of getting protein. And especially when you consider that Planet Earth gains an extra 83 million people every year—all of whom want to eat protein. But there’s a solution. Food scientists call it entomophagy, which is the practice of eating insects. They say that a bug-heavy diet could provide our swelling population with all the same proteins, fats, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals as traditional livestock, but without the strain on our natural resources.

If we want to save the planet, the future of food is insects

Fried crickets on the school menu, milk made from fly larvae and mealworm bolognese for dinner? These are the environmentally friendly meals we can look forward to. Bon appetit!

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What is the life of a cricket worth? Insect farming is a rapidly growing industry, with hundreds of companies worldwide rearing insects at industrial scales. The global value of insect farming is expected to surpass US$1.18 billion by 2023. Farmed insects, or “mini-livestock,” refers to insects such as crickets and mealworms raised for the sole purpose of being sold as food or animal feed.

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They’re Healthy. They’re Sustainable. So Why Don’t Humans Eat More Bugs?

Sylvain Hugel is one of the world’s foremost experts on crickets of the Indian Ocean Islands. So when he received an email from a fellow entomologist in March 2017 asking for help identifying a species in Madagascar that could be farmed for humans to consume, he thought it was a joke. “I’m working to protect those insects, not eat them,” the French academic responded tartly.

U.N. Urges Eating Insects; 8 Popular Bugs to Try

From beetles to stinkbugs, people in dozens of countries eat insects.

Why Aren’t We Eating More Insects?

They’re high in protein, low in cost, eco-friendly and tasty. And only in the West have we resisted them.

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On the surface, BUGS, a new documentary about eating insects, has a similar appeal. The film follows three chefs who travel the world sampling entomological delicacies, from ant larvae to cooked termites. It’s not just gross curiosity—chefs Josh Evans, Ben Reade, and Roberto Flore, along with director Andreas Johnsen, are trying to understand the potential of bug cuisine to save the world.

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Resources

6 reasons you should consider eating insects

For your own personal health and for the overall health of the planet, you should be eating more insects. This isn’t meant as a provocative, theoretical idea. It’s a serious solution to the increasingly pressing problems of global warming and animal welfare — and a practical way of adding low-fat protein to your diet. The UN has advocated eating insects for these very legitimate reasons, and it’s something two billion or so people around the world have done for centuries.