From Plagues to Protein

Another very large topic. All I want to do here is introduce the idea and answer some common questions that come up when this topic is discussed.

Entomophagy

A term I have seen before, entomophagy, means eating insects. All animals, including humans, have and still eat various insects. However people who live in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia, seem to gag at the thought of deliberately eating insects, grubs, and worms. But, as PopSci writes, we have reached the point where it is time for everyone to rethink what and how we consume meat-based protein, and we all need to start thinking about bugs for six very big reasons:

1. Food: This is not a new idea, eating insects, grubs, worms and the like has been part of natural human food since the beginning, and they can taste good.
2. Nutrition: They contain the most balanced nutrition, that meet our biological requirements.
3. Humane: Some people consider raising, processing, and eating insects more humane than the way we treat mammals or fish.
4. Environment: Current agricultural livestock practices are causing degradation of our land, water, soil, and forests; and contribute to the growth of greenhouse gasses. Not to mention the waste these animals produce.
5. Land: Climate change is already affecting what we can grow for food, and where; traditional meat production uses 70% of the planet’s cultivable land, whereas insect farming is more efficient as they can be farmed vertically.
6. Population: A growing human populations (9.8B by 2050), will all need to be fed, and it will need to be done sustainably, and efficiently.
7. Efficiency: Insects require just a fraction of land, water and feed in comparison to livestock, for the same amount of human consumable protein. 

Why Eat Insects

Insects Are + Have Been Food

NationalGeographic wrote: Ten thousand years ago hunters and gatherers ate bugs to survive. They probably learned what was edible from observing what animals ate, according to Gene DeFoliart, a professor emeritus of entomology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Eating insects certainly is an old tradition,” he said.

In todays world, over 2000 insects are eaten (1). Even our relatives, primates, eat insects (2). These foodstuffs fall into five arthropod categories and a few additions:

• Beetles
• Termites
• Hymenoptera (ants, bees, flys and wasps)
• Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)
• Orthoptera (locusts and crickets)
• Caterpillars and other insect larvae

In terms of food, as ScienceDaily details, insects are:

• High in protein: A cricket is 65 percent protein, beef is ~50 percent.
• High in nutrients: Insect protein contains a full range of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
• Low in fat: Many insect species have less than 5 grams of fat per serving.
• Can be cooked many ways: Pan-fried, boiled, sautéed, roasted, or baked.
• Can be processed: Can be ground into flour, and used for bars, breads, crackers, and cookies.
• Are Abundant: Some areas of the world have 300+ species of insects.
• Taste great: People all over the world eat insects, not because that is all they have, but because they are tasty.

Insects are Good Nutrition

Insects are more than just protein, they are also generally rich in other beneficial nutrients: fats, minerals and vitamins.

• TheGlobe: Insects are surprisingly nutritious. They’re exceptional sources of protein and supply all nine essential amino acids that the body can’t make on its own. Ounce for ounce, many insects deliver just as much protein as beef and some species provide even more.
• EdibleInsects: insects are a real animal protein that includes all nine essential amino acids; they’re a prebiotic fiber (nutrition for probiotics), very high in antioxidants, a perfect Omega 3:6 balance, high in B12, Calcium, Zinc, Iron, and more.
• Insects are also a very bio-available food source.
• PopSci writes that the insect-to-meat feed conversion, shows insects are more efficient than poultry’s 2 to 1 ratio, and way better than cattle’s 6 to 1. A “higher feed conversion rate” means that insects are more effective at converting the ingredients used to feed them, into nutrients that feed us.

Eating Insects More Humane

The idea here is related in particular to Industrial Big Agriculture that mistreats living animals, butchering them as soon as they meet minimum sizes. The animals live horrendous, very short, and unnatural lives.

Smaller, family farms tend to raise animals that are living a more natural life, out in pastures, but still live a short life; an example is diary cows live an average of 5 years, when they are converted into hamburger, after they can no longer produce milk.

So how do I define “humane”? I think it includes these aspects of life.

• Limited experience of hunger, thirst, or discomfort.
• Limited experience of pain, injury and disease.
• Freedom to express normal behavior and to live a normal lifespan.
• Limited fear and distress.

Raising insects in a factory setting is just now starting to grow, so there is limited data, at this point, regarding how they are kept. What we do know is that insects are given food and water, and are allowed to live a life closer to their natural length. But is there a way to raise and ultimately kill insects humanely? I honestly do not know and neither does science. There are limited studies on insects pain, or what is the best way to convert them into food.

Insects Improve Environment

Land + Water

Right now we are experiencing depleted oceans, losing forest land to inefficient farming, while there is a growing need to have sustainable sources of protein. Raising insects is one of the best, when compared to current practices (1).

• Insects require less land and water.
• Require less resources (feed, square footage, power, etc.).
• Produce less harmful by-products, such as green house gases, and waste products.

Whereas, beef and fowl require lots of land, require more resources than they produce, produce lots of bad by-byproducts that poison our land and waters, and barely live a life, cut short, often in harsh and industrial conditions.

Waste Products

The current animals raised for meat have lots of waste products, such as urine and feces that have polluted streams.

• NextFood: Raising insects is an effective way to reduce waste. Small animals can be raised with organic by-products. In other words, cultivating land to feed them seems useless. Moreover, these critters find food to feed in manure, manure and other waste from the agri-food industry. Also, their type of food decreases the amount of waste produced.

Where We Are + Where We Go

We All Eat Bugs Every Day

ScientificAmerica has written about what I told my spouse, we already eat pounds of bugs in our regular food. They are clear, you already regularly eat them. If you check out the FDA’s Defect Levels Handbook, you can see just how many buggies you could be eating on an everyday basis.

• Beer has an acceptable limit of insect infestation in hops is 2,500 aphids per 10 grams.
• Canned fruit juices are allowed up to 1 maggot per 250 ml.
• Curry powder is allowed up to 100 insect fragments (head, body, legs) per 25 grams.
• Chopped dates are allowed up to 10 whole dead insects.
• Keep in mind we eat honey, and as I describe in another post, honey is made from several bee’s vomit; raw unfiltered honey may contain bee parts.

Reality is we all eat bugs, intentionally or not, reportedly from 1-2# per year. Because life is everywhere on Earth, and we all need to eat, it is not surprising bugs are on and in the food we eat. So, often we eat a worm that may be hidden in a cherry, a bug that held on to our washed lettuce, very tiny worms in strawberries, or bug eggs we do not see in our quinoa or other cereal or grains.

Insect Pet Food + Treats

We are taking the first step in converting to insects as food. Right now, insects are being used as protein sources for animals that are farmed or are pets. And they can be fed on agricultural by-products so it already has the possibility of reducing human food going to feed animals.

According to TheConversation, farmed animals (cows, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry, and fish) are already being fed and eating insects. Feeding insects to the animals raised for food, increases their nutrition, and can let farmers grow more plants to feed humans.

• VOX: Just 55 percent of the world’s crop calories are actually eaten directly by people. Another 36 percent is used for animal feed. And the remaining 9 percent goes toward biofuels and other industrial uses.

One thing I personally have used, is insect-based dog treats and dog food. It is a bit more expensive, while the industry tries to gain scale, but I know it is a cleaner source of protein for my dogs.

Caution Allergies

Interestingly, some people allergic to shellfish MAY be allergic to some bugs.

What I found was AllergenBureau writing: Food allergy to insects has been reported for many different insect species, including silkworm, mealworm, caterpillars, locust, grasshopper, cicada, and bee. For cockroaches, which are also edible insects, only studies on inhalation allergy have been reported in the literature. The reason is giving: as both insects and crustaceans (e.g. prawn, shrimp) are in the arthropod family (having an exoskeleton and segmented bodies), and crustacean allergies are both relatively common and potentially severe, cross-reactivity of insect proteins with crustacean proteins is perhaps the primary food allergy concern.

What Insects are Edible?

This is not a list of every insect, grub, or worm we can eat. I just want to highlight what is in the news now in terms of new food businesses. Reuters writes, Businesses serving up creative ways to consume insects include a Hong Kong-made DIY home incubator for mealworms, a Belgian beer flavored with insect protein, Danish energy bars, and pasta from Germany that is 40% cricket.

Danish Meal Worms

Reuters writes, Despite their name, mealworms are not worms but the larval form of the mealworm beetle that are packed with nutrients which has typically made them a pet food for reptiles, fish and birds as well as being used for fishing bait.

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is looking into insects in general, and meal worms in particular, as potential, sustainable sources of protein. In fact this is quite a thing in many parts of the world right now.

• Today: Insect farming is a small but growing industry globally with bugs touted as a sustainable and cheap food that is high in protein, vitamins, fibre and minerals, while their cultivation has much less environmental impact than meat.
• The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has highlighted that insects emit fewer greenhouse gases and less ammonia than cattle or pigs, require less land and water — and there are more than 1,900 edible insect species.

Quartz writes that importantly, grasshoppers are not just considered edible, but a delicacy, across Africa and parts of Asia, the Middle East and South America. So there already is a market for these foods.

French Beetles

FastCompany writes that Ÿnsect is building a new vertical farm that won’t be growing lettuce or vegetables. Instead, it will soon begin raising hundreds of millions of insects. Inside, in trays stacked under 130-foot-high ceilings, an automated system will grow and process beetle larvae for use in products such as pet food, fertilizer, and fish feed, as a way to dramatically shrink their environmental footprints.

Israeli Kosher Grasshoppers

I read up on an Israeli firm, Hargol Foodtech (“Hargo;” means grasshopper), is looking to raise and use grasshoppres as human food protein. While reading about the company, there were comments written about Jewish approach to eating these insects.

• In Leviticus, there is a passage stating that certain kinds of grasshopper, including locusts, are kosher.
• Jews in Yemen and North Africa have been eating locusts for generations (but not so European Jews).

I do know that treating insects as food is starting to look like our future. TODAYOnline writes: With Earth’s population expected to hit 10 billion by 2050, raising livestock to feed the planet will become increasingly unsustainable, given the massive water and land resources required.

Singapore’s Larvae

On a global scale, at least a third of all food produced for humans is currently being wasted. This totals to ~1.3B tons. Singapore has plenty of Black Soldier Flies which in larvae form eat nearly any organic matter, up to four times their weight per day.

• The fly larvae are capable of converting three tons of food waste into one ton of fertilizers per week.

Thai’s Insect Markets + Street Food

Deep-fried crickets is a north-eastern Thai delicacy, and is found in Bangkok as street food. They are also ground and used as protein powder and power bars. But Thai Cuisine, as written about by Thaiest is not limited to crickets, they also eat other insects and worms:

• Silk worms
• Bamboo worms
• Grasshoppers
• Giant water bugs
• Scorpions

My Trader Joes Assembler Jill, brought me a bag of cricket powder chips which tasted fine, like “good for you” chips do. So I am not a stranger to using crickets for flour. But would I eat a bag of just plain, dried crickets in their natural form? Well, Ento, a Malaysian start-up is now offering “artisanal roasted crickets” in a chip-like bag.

Even some Chefs are getting into serving insects. Chef Nowshad Alam Rasel, in Sydney Australia, spices a hot pan full of crickets, tossing them over a flaming stove to make a savory dish. Not too far away, is Australia’s largest insect supplier, the Edible Bug Shop. Ready to supply Chefs with all that they need to serve roasted cockroaches, honey-flavored ants, or mealworms.

Sardinia’s Casu Marzu Cheese

Sardinia’s “casu marzu” cheese is known as the most dangerous cheese in the world because, in part, it is served with live maggots. In fact “casu marzu” actually means rotten cheese.

Pecorino is made from sheeps milk, a particular fly is allowed to lay its eggs, which morph into maggots. After a few months, the maggots have lived, eaten cheese, and their waste (poo) is incorporated into the cheese as flavor and texture.

These days this cheese is not allowed to be sold, but it is still being created and eaten by some Sardinia people. I personally do not anticipate ever wanting to taste this cheese.

Have Insect Aversion?

Europeans to Americans

Wikipedia writes that Human insect-eating is common to cultures in most parts of the world, including Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Eighty percent of the world’s nations eat insects of 1,000 to 2,000 species. In some societies, primarily western nations, entomophagy is uncommon or taboo.

• IFLScience writes: Around 2 billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diet, and over 1,900 species are edible. The most commonly eaten bugs are beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and ants.

Even the NYT asks why we’re quick to down slippery oysters, stinking cheese and hot dogs made of entrails unknown, but we shy from anything that might once have crawled, hopped or hovered over a picnic blanket.

After some research, I can point to these reasons Americans tend to not eat insects, currently.

• The fate of geography
  • Europe housed only 2% of known edible insects
  • Those insects did not grow very large
  • As a result, no European history or habit of insect eating
• Americans are taught insects are pests or “bad”
• Many Hollywood movies treat insects as “bad” (Starship Troopers, Them, Mimic, 50’s atomic insects)
• What we eat becomes part of our social and cultural identity
  • ”Only those people eat insects, not us”
• Americans see insects as weird, alien, frightening

Native American + Colonists Ate Insects

What Americans forget, is that we do have a history of eating insects. In fact, AtlasObscura writes that Both Native Americans and colonists enjoyed fried cicadas, grasshopper flour, and insect fruitcakes. … America does have a history of insect eating. Native communities across the modern United States developed culinary traditions around dozens of insect species, from crickets to caterpillars, ants to aphids.

TraditionalAnimalFoods: Insects are one of the most diverse and widespread groups of animals and Indigenous Peoples of North America consumed a variety of insect species. However, because their bodies are small and dominated by hard-to-digest structures, they are generally not an important food source for indigenous cultures in northern North America. An occasional exception is soft-bodied, larval-stage insects that are encountered in the harvest and storage of meat from other food species.

Conversion to Insects?

Insect Flour

So moving forward what should we do? I would first argue that you should not go out back and pick crickets from your backyard!! Leave farming these animals to the farmers who can assure organic and well raised animals that are not full of pesticides and toxins.

To start, I would ease into entomophagy by focus first, on the foods we serve our farmed animals and pets. Second, if I want to eat insects I would be trying to use products that are made of insect protein (powders, flours, pastes) in the form of chips, energy bars, or shakes.

Insect Taste 

But how do they taste? I am using the descriptions provided by others at this point, since I have only eaten a few types.

• Crickets are crunchy, and can take on the flavor of the dish being cooked.
• Ants contain a chemical, formic acid, not unlike lemons, so have a bit of tanginess.
• Mealworms are earthy, like mushroms.
• African termites are reportedly minty.
• Stinkbugs, well they stink, but taste like apples.
• Sago grubs taste like bacon.

Interesting huh?

Some knowledgeable people are saying that if we are going to honestly deal with climate change, and all the egregious harms we are afflicting on our planet, eating insects will be part of the solution. So they are on the plate that wll be served in all our futures, or our grandchildren’s childrens.

—Patty

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UN: The Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egelund, pleaded for the world to wake up to the horrors taking place in Yemen — as countless other U.N. officials have tried to do all week. “Yemenis are not just starving, they are being starved. This is man-made from A-Z. Food and fuel are weaponized. We cannot do our job due to lack of funds and access.” Over 100,000 children have already died of starvation in Yemen in the last four years, largely thanks to a Saudi-led blockade of the country. The U.N. partly blames the U.S., U.K. and France for arming the Saudis.

Renamed: In a previous post I mentioned products that were being renamed. Well one of them has been — Eskimo Pie ice cream bar has changed its name after more than three months since its parent Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream acknowledged that the name is derogatory. The popular ice cream will now be known as Edy’s Pie as a tribute to one of the company’s founders, Joseph Edy.

Meat processing: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers in animal slaughter and production face higher rates of injury than coal miners or construction workers. Poultry processing in particular is the leading occupational cause of finger amputations in the US.

Climate Change: ScienMag The depletion of groundwater sources in parts of the United States High Plains is so severe that peak grain production in some states has already been passed, according to new research. The scientists found that in Texas and Kansas, even taking into account advances in technology and improved irrigation methods, production levels peaked around 2016 before starting to decline. By 2050, if no yield-boosting technologies are introduced, grain production in Texas could be reduced by as much as 40 per cent. The decline is because rates of water extraction, coupled with delays in enforcing new policies on groundwater use and in introducing new irrigation and monitoring technologies mean the aquifers can no longer be sufficiently replenished to meet demand.