Eating Insects – Is This The Future For Food?

As the world’s population increases, protein is increasingly in short supply. Could eating insects be the answer?

Feeding the planet literally may well rest with the insects. We’ve always known they would survive a nuclear attack but could they also save us too? We have a burgeoning protein gap and as the population increases this will undoubtedly get worse. Admittedly, having tried to eat a locust on a stick means that convincing me at least to eat them will require plenty of exceptional marketing to overcome the gag factor.

However, me aside, plenty of others on the planet – at least 2 billion people rely on insect fodder for their protein. In fact their survival depends on it in many cases. Vincent Holt in 1885 had thought of eating insects then because he could see it opening up a new world for culinary product development. The correct technical word is entomophagy which refers to the eating of insects. I’ve found them as side dishes or garnishes on salads in some US restaurants. One way to overcome their ‘appearance’ is to convert them into an ingredients which can be incorporated into something else – a bar or confectionary for example. Otherwise disguising them with batter or some other covering helps. I thought I wouldn’t eat a whole soft shelled crab for example (not an insect by the way) but in a batter, the whole experience was so much easier to munch.

From the environmental view point, insects have less of a carbon footprint in terms of growth. What we do have to watch are allergies, parasites and toxicology. It means ensuring the regulations _ Novel Food Regs. are examined carefully before launching a new product like this into the marketplace. My interest is actually finding novel proteins for sports bars – there isn’t a gluten issue so naturally these proteins already have a benefit. Mealworms, crickets and locusts could be the way forward. There are plenty of species to choose from and if its larger animals we need to eat then insects might well prove to be a highly viable feed.

At the moment I’m looking for examples of food based on insects – any help required. One excellent supplier of insect products including mealworms, crickets, grasshoppers and buffalo worms is Eat Grub Ltd. They offer not only these insects but the web-site also details various recipes which incorporate these effectively into the food.