Slimy Yet Satisfying

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Most people living in industrialized western countries are terrified to see reports that tell us our food safety regulators allow "up to ten insect legs in a bar of chocolate" . The very thought of having those creepy crawlies any closer than their backyard is enough to send shivers down their spines.  But there is talk in the news that soon these very same individual's perspectives on our six-legged brethren will make a drastic switch from ignoring their very existence to enjoying them as an afternoon snack.

Arable land is becoming scarce. And nearly three-quarters of the available land is being used to raise livestock, either as pasture or as cropland to feed our meaty pets. The problem isn't just how much is going into the animal, but how much is coming out. Livestock are well known contributors to greenhouse gas emission and poor manure management can be an environmental nightmare. As the world population increases and country's in developing parts of the world gain wealth, they too begin to add more meat to their diet adding to the growing demand in the meat market.. It's becoming more and more apparent that the amount of resources required to continue our carnivorous diet may not be practical when considering long term sustainability.

The solution to satisfy our planet's unsustainable protein-hungry problem may be the same thing we've been trying to eradicate from our gardens all these years. It's no big news that we could be supplementing our diets with insects. Our ancestors and nearly two billion people today consider insects a very important part of their diet. They're readily available, found in every part of the world and are just as nutritious as the large mammals we're raising today.  Many species of insects can supply (gram for gram) the same amount of protein as a lean cut of meat, with a free dosage of fiber, nutrients, and minerals. 

It takes nearly nothing to raise insects, in fact we could be recycling our waste from other products to feed to the insects. In terms of biomass, insects vastly outweigh all other classes of animals including ourselves. There are already 1,000 species of insects that humans are already eating, mostly in Asian and African countries. The most common being grasshoppers, beetles, water bugs, dung beetles, larvae and caterpillars.

If the thought of eating insects makes you a little squeamish, you may be out of luck. The way things are moving, the question is not if we'll be eating insects but when will we be eating insects. We're already eating other arthropods, a shrimp or crab is not all that different from an insect, yet we consider it a delicacy here in the western world.  Its becoming more common to see insects in high-end European cafe display cases. Cakes topped with chocolate covered grasshoppers, or other candies dawned in honey-glazed maggots. It may be slow to catch on in some parts of the world, but it's only a matter of time before bugs make their way onto everyone's menu,