Sign up for an invite
Could Eating Bugs Solve the World Food Crisis?
Written by Bogdan 
Photo:
photo source: Times
If up until now, eating bugs was only common in certain parts of Asia or Africa, researchers from the Ohio State University suggest that such an odd menu might be the perfect choice for our health and the sake of the planet. Entomophagy (i.e. eating insects as food) leads to low cholesterol and provides essential nutrients and proteins, while keeping down the number of pests and avoiding the heavy use of pesticides.
In Thailand, when the use of pesticides failed, the government urged people to consume locusts and even handed out recipes thus putting an end to the plague. Locals went even further and started planting corn to attract the little pests and sell them. It's no wonder then, that in some parts of the world bugs are considered a treat. Wasps with rice for example are one of Japan's favorite dishes, while sago grubs wrapped in banana leaves are a delicacy in Papua New Guinea. A plate of maguey worms – larvae of a giant butterfly – are valued at £12.50 in many Mexican restaurants.
Photo:
photo source: Times
Tina van den Briel, senior nutritionist at the World Food Program, is part of the team that provides the much needed food aid for poor countries in Africa or Asia. While she is still doubtful about insects becoming a viable food source for large populations, she is not totally against it. They can be part of a complementary diet "but they do not lend themselves to programs like ours where you transport food over long distances and where you have to store food for a few months."
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1,400 species of insects and worms are commonly eaten in 90 countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia. While Thailand mostly prefers crickets and silk worms, Africans go for grasshopers or grubs while ants are frequently on the menus of restaurants in South America. FAO even held a special conference earlier this year on the multiple benefits of consuming insects.
Photo:
photo source: Times
"Insects are the most valuable, underused and delicious animals in the world," says David George Gordon, a Seattle-based naturalist and author. The West "is one the few cultures" that doesn't eat them, he adds. "Maybe we are the weirdos."
Still, don't hold your breath or think twice if a fly lands in your soup bowl. Even though we eat the ocean's equivalent of bugs - crabs or shrimps - persuading Westerners to eat insects will require skilful persuasion.source
Environmental Graffiti is up for four bloggers’ choice awards. You can vote for us for best entertainment blog, best blog of all time, best geek blog and best animal blogger.
If you want to find out all the latest news on the environment, why not subscribe to our RSS feed? We’ll even throw in a free album.
License:
Attribution-Share Alike 
Related Posts
Popular in Food and Drink
Comments
Gavin Hudson (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 4pm
Here in Korea, we have Bondeggi, or silk worms. Pretty bitter tasting but probably packed with nutrients and surprisingly popular with the kids.
Steve N. Lee (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 4pm
This is an interesting - if disgusting to Western readers - topic.
I've seen thet 'food' markets in China where you can feast on virtually anything - scorpions, snake, spiders... You name it, if it was ever alive, you can eat it here.
I didn't sample anything, though. Not necessarily because of the fact that most of it reviled me, but mroe because the hygiene standards were almost as vile as the dishes!
That said, we eat some disgusting things in the West. For example, the French eat frogs' legs and snails while the English eat 'black pudding', which is made from blood.
If a global food shortage struck, the West included, I dare say it wouldn't be too long before the more 'exotic' delights of faraway menus started to appear on our plates, too.
An interesting article.
Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog Lions led by Sheep - http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and eco-suspense thriller 'What if...?'
ula (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 5pm
2eat bugs is better than being eaten by them ...starving !!!!
PlanetThoughts.org (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 6pm
Both aumusing and highly relevant. As a North American, I don't know whether to laugh or gag.
However, those who know social history know that each poor immigrant group coming to the USA would eat chicken organs and neck, cow tongue, intestines, etc. As the groups get wealthier they/we get more and more demanding. The point is, as the other commenter said, the reverse could happen and we would learn to love whatever keeps us alive.
erick g (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 7pm
interesting ingsights, Steven. I think you're right.
Etna (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 9pm
Interesting read, but being that I'm from North America it makes me feel a little ill when I think about it. I can't stand the site of most bugs or the thought of touching them, so I would find it extremely difficult to convince myself to eat them.
John (not verified) says:
Jun 2nd, 2008 at 10pm
My roomate and I discussed this topic a few months ago. We saw something on PBS about insects having high nutritional value. We had talked about how he always assumed we would be eating nutritional paste by now. We thought that we as people could make the insects into a paste so that you wouldn't know they are insects and then that could go a long way to ending world hunger. Bugs wouldn't have to be all we ate, but when your hungry, there would always be bug paste. :-)
Infogleaner (not verified) says:
Jun 3rd, 2008 at 2am
Fry 'em up with a little butter and close your eyes...
mmmm....
John, the paste thing looks like the next step to soylant green. But your basic idea is very sound, i.e. change the look and texture of the food.
What we want to eat is really a perspective thing. Who wants to wolf down a burger after visiting a slaughterhouse?
Heather (not verified) says:
Jun 3rd, 2008 at 2pm
Bugs don't sound that appetizing to me, but there are certainly enough of them! If people aren't willing to stop eating meat, it will be difficult to convince them to eat bugs, I fear.
Gigs (not verified) says:
Jun 3rd, 2008 at 8pm
Been trying to convince my wife to let me raise crickets or mealworms for human consumption for years now. She just can't get over the gross-out factor. :(
Kevin (not verified) says:
Oct 3rd, 2009 at 4am
No. Are you kidding me? I didn't read this article, I just skimmed it and looked at the pictures. But regardless, no.
Do you know how much westerners would rather starve than eat a worm?
No.
Excuse me.
No.
Did I mention no?
Mekhong Kurt (not verified) says:
I live near central Bangkok. Come walk with me a few minutes anywhere there are street vendors selling food, and I promise you we'll find, besides silk worms and crickets, grasshoppers and a whole *bunch* of various other insects. And I've never noticed any particular preference on the part of a obvious majority of Thais for any one insect; they strike me as, um, "very democratic" when it comes to consuming the critters! (Yes, I tried once, "to uphold the side" when invited by a Thai to partake of her fried grasshoppers. Pretty tasteless, but I've never repeated the experience, and that was early in my time here of over 14 years!)