Eat insects to save the planet
EUobserver has published an essential article today about the necessity of eating insects to save the planet.
It quotes a Dutch academic who believes that ‘insects are the sustainable, healthy and environment friendly foods of the future. “There are so many benefits to the eating of insects compared to conventional livestock, and, nutritionally, insects are exactly the same as conventional meat.”’
It appears that there are now several insect farmers in the Netherlands, concentrating on three species: ‘There are about 1,800 edible insects in the world. But for “scaling up” it has to be possible to raise the insects easily, which leaves mealworms – the larvae of darkling beetles – crickets and locusts.’
Insect products might soon be coming to a supermarket near you, given that there is a ‘team of four PhD students with €1 million for research focussed on extracting protein from insects. This is something of a holy grail […] as it would give all of the goodness of insect protein without the off-putting exoskeleton visuals.’
In case you’re getting hungry from reading this, the article even provides a recipe: ‘the novice insect-eater should start off with insects in a wok with rice and soya sauce, with garlic, pepper and salt: “This is really good.”’
Bon appétit!