Why insects could feed the world.
Or some cricket kebabs or grilled grasshoppers? With the rise of the global population putting a strain on the world’s meat production, insects could soon become part of our everyday diet, reports Mike Peake
Entomophagy is the consumption of insects by humans,” begins the UN’s rather dry pamphlet The Contribution Of Insects To Food Security, Livelihood And The Environment, the very title of which is a bit of a cause for concern.
Eating insects as a solution to rising global food prices has been muttered – some may say snickered – about for years, but the environment? And whose livelihood? Is popping a mixed bag of arthropods into your mouth really going to save the world? The answer, it seems, is a resounding yes. Entomophagy has never been a more serious proposition – as evidenced by the numerous institutions around the world currently investing time and money into research projects aimed at figuring out how insects can be transformed from ‘yuk’ to ‘yum’.
Whether that means bugs entering the food chain as ground-up animal feed or as microwavable ready meals, no one is sure – but the consensus is that these protein-packed pals of ours are simply too important, and too numerous, to pass by.
Once the multinationals and, in turn, we the consumer, get our heads around it, eating insects – while ostensibly stomach-churning to most of us – might not be as unpalatable or as far-fetched as you think.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, almost 2,000 types of insects currently supplement the diets of around two billion people – which means that one in every three inhabitants of the earth thinks nothing of eating a mealworm or a spoonful of ants.
As the population rises – it is estimated to hit 9 billion by 2050 – so too will the strain on the world’s meat production capabilities. The UN points out that it’s not just a question of more livestock; the knock-on effect of billions more sheep, cows and chickens would result in land and water pollution, forest degradation and maybe even climate change.
If it’s protein the world wants, the alternative is staring us in the face – even if it is one that raises eyebrows among two-thirds of the world.
“Most of us peer at bugs through a lens shaped by society’s bias against them,” says Daniella Martin, an insect-eating expert and creator of the website Girlmeetsbug.com.
“But it’s a warped, fisheye lens. A few insects are known to be disease-carriers, flesh-biters, face-eaters and dirt-mongers, and because of this we assume they all are. It’s a bit like wandering through a prison and assuming that every person on earth is a criminal.”
Clever cuisine
The case for bugs as a food source is a compelling one. On average, insects can convert 2kg of feed into 1kg of edible bug, whereas cows need 8kg of feed to gain 1kg of meat.
The UN also points out that raising insects for food results in fewer greenhouse gases than when rearing traditional livestock; some animals raised for food create up to 100 times more greenhouse gases per kilogram than mealworms. Insects need less water and less land, too.
None of this, of course, is news to those who already accept insects as part of their diet. Insects are widely eaten in 36 countries in Africa, 29 in Asia and 23 in the Americas. They’re especially popular in Thailand, where more than 200 species are commonly found for sale in bowls laid out at market stalls.
For the insect-eating third of the world, munching on a cricket is no different to
nibbling on a bit of chicken. As Dutch entomophagist Marcel Dicke said during his thought-provoking 2011 TED talk Why Not Eat
Insects? “There are 6 million species of insects, so you can eat something new every day.”
Interestingly, Marcel says that we already unwittingly consume around 500g of insects every year because tiny amounts of bugs are permitted, by law, to wind up in processed food. Noodles, he points out, are allowed to contain up to 225 insect parts per 225g.
Marcel has now made his pro-insect-eating presentation to audiences all over the world, and at the end of each one he likes to offer the assembled crowd a plate of cooked bugs to try. It’s a bit of a gimmick, perhaps, but Marcel is at pains to point out that it really is proper food he’s offering. “In terms of protein, fat and vitamins, it’s very good,” he says. “It’s comparable to anything we eat as meat.”
Accidentally eating half a fly wing is clearly quite a different proposition to willingly downing a praying mantis, and is right at the heart of the entomophagy problem.
In a culture where bugs are seen as pests and somewhat repugnant to look at or touch, it’s going to take quite a leap to turn us into an army of bee-biters and caterpillar chompers.
But British food critic Jay Rayner, talking to the BBC, suggests that the introduction of insects into the global diet will happen by stealth, rather than by a sudden shift in appetite. Warning that food prices could double or even triple in the coming decades, he argues that a proprietary powder containing insect protein – marketed, crucially, with a non-insect sounding name – could easily be used to bulk up sausages, for example. There would be no insect taste, nothing foul to look at, just cheap, tasty bangers.
Daniella says something similar is already happening in America thanks to the efforts of a company called Chapul, which unashamedly uses ground-up cricket ‘flour’ in its energy bars.
“There are two types of people when it comes to eating insects,” says Daniella. “Those who like to see the whole bug, and those who prefer the processed form. I think the majority of people fall into the latter category.”
Marcel, however, says we might all be rather more enthusiastic about the whole idea if we could just tweak our perceptions a little. Think not of that locust as a hideous grasshopper, he says, but as “a shrimp of the land”.
All of which brings us to the $64,000 question. What do bugs actually taste like?
“They all taste a bit different,” says Daniella. “Common flavour notes are mushroominess, nuttiness and shrimpiness.” But there are
more unusual flavours, too; she talks of the giant water bug tasting “like melon soaked in a banana-rose brine”.
Fans of bugs will tell you that they are genuinely tasty – Daniella says that if we’d all been raised eating insects we’d consider them a delicacy – which is something the UN has been especially keen to trumpet.
A large percentage of the insect-eating world does not choose to eat bugs merely because they are cheap, but because they like the taste.
The mopane caterpillar in Southern Africa, for example, attracts a premium price because it is considered such a mouth-watering ingredient. And much prized in Indonesia are dragonflies boiled in coconut milk with ginger.
There are 80 grasshopper species that are gobbled up around the world, while the winged termites gathered in Ghana during the rainy season are made into a kind of meaty bread.
“Crickets are excellent pan-fried or roasted,” says insect-munching author Miles Olson, writing on MotherEarthNews.com. He suggests removing the legs before popping them in the mouth, however, as these can be “irritating”.
Doing their bit to spread the word in London for three nights this summer were four young graduates whose pop-up restaurant Eat Ento served up such delights as grasshopper dumplings and burnt bee larvae. “We believe that insects could be a regular sight in your local supermarket by 2020,” they told the press.
A bug’s life
The excellent nutritional value of insects is another reason why they could become part of our everyday diet.
According to research at Montana State University, a caterpillar contains 28.2g of protein per 100g and a generous 35.5mg of iron – higher on both counts than minced beef.
Time magazine, meanwhile, points out that the high calcium content of crickets makes them an especially attractive food source – if not to look at.
There’s also the fact that insects carry very little risk of a swine flu or BSE-style health scare.
Are you convinced yet? “Consumer disgust remains one of the largest barriers to the adoption of insects as viable sources of protein in many countries,” says Eva Muller, a director of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.
“Nevertheless, history has shown that dietary patterns can change quickly, particularly in the globalised world.”
But are we in the UAE ready for cartons of beetle broth and warm worm platters? Are the fine-dining establishments lining up to serve gourmet spider salads and termite terrines?
Viktorija Paplauskiene, restaurant manager at Table 9 at the Hilton Dubai Creek, thinks not. “The majority of people in the UAE are not very adventurous eaters and I don’t think bugs would go down well,” she says.
“I can’t see any of the European chefs here reaching out for a different protein source when they still have meat available. But for other restaurants? Why not?”
A large percentage of the insect-eating world does not choose to eat bugs merely because they are cheap, but because they like the taste