Insect bites

Consider this new kind of eat as food for thought. It’s not always the coronavirus consuming its human host’s respiratory organs until the victim succumbs. A creative entrepreneur

in Vietnam found a way for people to consume the virus by making burger buns in the shape of the spiky microbe and serving them to diners of his pizza restaurant in Hanoi.

With the success of Chef Hoang Tung’s corona burger, an Indian restaurant is copying his strategy to draw customers scared of eating out amid the pandemic.

Yash Solanki, owner of the vegetarian Vedic eatery in the western city of Jodphur, serves “COVID Curry” and “Mask Naans.” The curry is topped with fried vegetable balls shaped into “crowned” coronavirus, while the accompanying pita looks like a surgical mask.

Meanwhile, in Israel, a local food processor offers a unique product, rich in protein and low in unhealthy fat. Unlike the corona burger and COVID curry though, Hargol Foodtech’s “kosher” is not shaped like the virus.

Hargol CEO Dror Tamir has been trumpeting his product as the better and more viable source of protein compared to beans, traditional meat, algae-based food and lab-grown meat.

Feeding a population of 10 billion with beef, chicken and pork requires growing millions of cattle, chicken and pigs, which also consume a lot of food and water while causing pollution like methane. Tamir’s protein source has no such impact. Its source is naturally abundant, can be grown in a mesh cage and fed only with wheatgrass for three months.

In terms of palatability, the Hargol food’s powdered version has a neutral flavor, while the unprocessed variant is already part of the diet of some 2.5 billion people in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In fact, Hargol will launch a pancake and smoothie mix made from grasshopper.

Tamir also plans to collaborate with Tnuva, Israel’s largest food producer, to manufacture locust protein powder for athletes by the end of the year.

To serve the American and European markets, Hargol is making grasshopper-enhanced energy bars and jars of roasted grasshoppers alongside Israeli honey.

The company’s goal is to be “the first in the world to grow grasshoppers on a commercial scale, and provide the world with a healthier and more sustainable source of protein.” It can also solve locust infestation of farms.