Another Helping of Bugs


*Video is now unavailable.
 

Insects - they’re what’s for dinner - High in protein and low in fat, insects are what some are calling the meat of the future.

“The new meat is bugs (bleh) Yeah.”
Video HLN
“1/3 of the planet eats bugs as a part of their regular diet …”
Treehugger Radio
“It’s time for some wax worm tacos ... You have to taste this to believe this.”
Girl Meets Bug

Making your skin crawl yet? - Two researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands started their campaign for crickets and the like in the 1990s and recently released a study saying bugs are the solution to the world’s food shortage.

According to Daily Tech: “Between 2020 and 2050, researchers predict that Westerners will consume insects regularly as an answer to our increasing population needing more meat-related resources. In fact, beef may become a luxury food item like caviar by 2050.”

But Care2 reports insects are already more mainstream than you may think...

“According to the FDA, chocolate can contain around 60 insect fragments per 100 grams, peanut butter can have 30 insect parts per 100 grams and fruit juice can have either five fruit fly eggs and one or two larvae eggs per 250 mL.”

Girl Meets Bug blogger Daniella Martin joins the pro-bug camp, telling TreeHugger Radio putting bugs on the dinner table is simple! And they’re not only savory, but environmentally friendly too.

“Insects are the planet’s most available, most sustainable and most abundant form of animal protein (FLASH) They require 10 times less food for instance approximately 1,000 times less water and you know, perhaps hundreds of times less land space just to produce the same amount of protein as any of these other forms of livestock.”

Martin suggests avoiding urban bugs because of possible toxins and says her favorite, wax worms, can easily be ordered online. But even with supporters like Martin behind it not all not everyone is sold on the idea.

LiveScience argues bugs might not be the environmentally friendly alternative to traditional livestock many are claiming they are.

“...this topic is not a hotbed of research, so while some data exist — in particular on the protein content of insects — there are some assumptions built into the latter part of this argument...”

The site also quotes a researcher who says: don’t expect many Westerners to voluntarily start munching on meal worms...

“...the practical barriers to eating insects ... are extremely large and perhaps currently even likely to be insurmountable.”

So do you think you’ll be trading in burgers for beetles? Or does the thought give you the creepy crawlies?


Read this previous post Insects for Dinner.

Read this previous posts on bed bugs.

Source: You Tube (weirdfisher) Key Words: celebrity out of here 2008 georges tucker

The above video is from a programme called "I'm a celebrity - get me out of here"- like "Supervivientes".  In this clip, one of the actors from Star Trek has to eat some live bugs.

Comments

Montse said…
Graham, I don’t want to think about this topic. It’s really creepy. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to eat things like those. Before that, I would die of hunger.
Graham said…
Montse:

It's incredible how harmless creepy-crawlies can scare us so much.

Have you watched the clip of "I'm a celeb"? He actually enjoyed the first dish of live cockroaches but had to say no to camels' testicles.
Hi Graham! It's Ana. I have watched the video and I refuse to think we will have to eat bugs in future years.
I hate all kinds of creepy-crawly, and I have never been able to eat one of them.
Graham said…
Hi Ana,

They say that bugs are very nutritious and that they could be the answer to the problem of world hunger.

"I have never been able to eat one of them" - this suggests that you have tried to eat them.

Maybe you mean - "I would never eat them".

Anonymous said…
Hi Graham,
I'm Jorge.
It is a interesting topic.
But, in my opinión, Europeans or Western people won't never eat bugs because they would have other kind of food better than bugs if beef became in a luxury product
Graham said…
Hi Jorge,

Remember to say "it's + name" when you say who you are.

It is an interesting topic.
But, in my opinion, Europeans or Western people won't ever eat bugs because they would have a better kind of food than bugs if beef became a luxury product.


I envisage a time when the whole world will be vegetarian. Alas, not in my lifetime.