Are Edible Insects the Food of the Future?

High in nutrition and cheap to produce, edible insects might become the food of the future.

A salad with edible locusts. Photograph courtesy of: Bugs for Dinner

A restaurant in Thiefosse, northeastern France, has been attracting scores of customers lately. The reason behind the rising popularity of L’atelier a pates is its quirky gourmet treat that has piqued public curiosity - Insect pasta. Yep, you heard that right! 

Artisanal Pasta-maker Stephanie Richard’s unique pasta is made from spelt-wheat flour, whole eggs and insect flour (made from pulverized crickets and grasshoppers).

Over two billion people consume insects routinely. From chocolate chirp cookies and ginger cricket sweets to grasshopper kebabs and ant tacos, entomophagy is popular in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

But the idea remains a hard sell in the West.

“Insects are healthy, nutritious alternatives to mainstream staples” such as chicken, pork and beef, says a 2013 UN report.

Cricket protein is rich in calcium, zinc and vitamin B12. It also has less fat and fewer calories than beef. Moreover, cooked grasshoppers contain about 60% protein with just 6% fat. Like fish, insect fatty acids are unsaturated and thus healthier.

“Insects already form a traditional part of many regional and national diets,” the study adds.

In Ghana, fried or roasted winged termites is a popular delicacy that is prepared during the spring rains. While de-winged dragonflies boiled in coconut milk, ginger and garlic are a palatable dish in Bali.

As the global population is expected to surpass nine billion by 2050, entomophagy has been widely discussed as a possible solution to improve food security.

“There are nearly one billion chronically hungry people worldwide…what we eat and how we produce it needs to be re-evaluated.”

“We need to find new ways of growing food,” says the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s report.

Traditional livestock farming has been deemed as expensive and environment damaging. On the contrary, edible bugs don’t require a lot of space and emit fewer greenhouse gases.

Photograph courtesy of: Men's Journal

Lately, a lot of initiatives are being carried out to make insect-eating more delectable to the Western world.

In the U.S, the concept of insect-rearing is gaining some ground. North America got its first edible insect farm, Next Millennium Farms (NMF), in January 2014. It was laucnhed by Jarrod Goldin along with his brothers Ryan and Darren.

In Europe, Austria has been quick to embrace entomophagy. At the Vienna Ball of Sciences that took place last month, scientists could be seen feasting on mealworms and locusts. What's more, the Crossfield’s Australian Pub, in the capital city, serves fried crickets.

However, scientists and food experts are still working on the nitty-gritty details involved in insect-rearing and other aspects of entomophagy. Extensive studies are being carried out to analyse the impact of insect farming on the livestock and the environment.

Since insects are arthropods, there’s also a concern regarding acute allergic reactions. A protein called tropomyosin present in shellfish often causes allergies. The protein sequence of tropomyosin is similar in insects. Also, bugs have their own pathogens (viruses, bacteria, etc.), some of these could pose risks to humans or livestock.

Nevertheless, the idea of munching away on roasted crickets while watching the latest action flick might be a figment of imagination today but it might not be in distant future!