{"id":10666,"date":"2024-07-12T17:14:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T21:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/?p=10666"},"modified":"2024-07-15T12:08:10","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T16:08:10","slug":"saving-the-planet-in-a-tasty-way-eat-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2024\/07\/12\/saving-the-planet-in-a-tasty-way-eat-bugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Planet in a Tasty(?) Way: Eat Bugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we are highlighting work from students in Steven Finn’s course: MET ML626 – Food Waste: Scope, Scale, and Signals for Sustainable Change. This post comes from Megan Perlman.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

With the world’s population forecast to reach nine billion by 2050, food production will have to nearly double to keep up. Yet our planet simply cannot provide the water, land, and resources to sustain us at this pace. Livestock, especially beef, is a particularly inefficient use of resources per calorie consumed.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Beetles in the Bush<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Enter: micro-livestock. The United Nations\u2019 Food and Agriculture Organization\u2019s groundbreaking 2013 paper, Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security<\/u><\/a> suggests that entomophagy can help food security and the planet.<\/p>\n

In fact, simply diversifying our protein sources to include insects can aid in the achievement of many of the UN\u2019s 17 Sustainable Development Goals<\/u><\/a> (SDGs) \u2013 including goals 2: Zero Hunger; 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; 12: Responsible Consumption and Production; and 15: Life on Land.<\/p>\n

Insects are highly sustainable. They take up little space, are easy to care for, and use very few resources (both environmentally and economically). They are nutritionally dense with protein, and minerally rich. Their benefits are far-reaching and can help slow some of our resource depletion quite quickly. Insects can offer the same protein and mineral content as regular meat or fish — but at far less cost to the planet.<\/p>\n

So why don\u2019t we eat them? Well, bugs are gross. Contrary to all reason, the cultural \u201cick\u201d factor seems the hardest to overcome, even though over two billion people globally already eat insects. Insects are arthropods, like lobster and shrimp. It\u2019s completely arbitrary that in the Western world lobster is a delicacy and beetles are not \u2013 and it hasn\u2019t always been that way either (at least not for the lobster). In fact, we are already eating insect products in our everyday foods (cochineal red dye and lac bugs confectioners\u2019 glaze in food and candy, for example).<\/p>\n

Restaurants and the culinary world have been early adopters \u2013 chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s has been serving chapulines (grasshopper tacos) at his Mexican restaurant Oyamel for 20 years, simply because it is a Oaxacan classic. Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s Epicurious website amassed 4.7 million views on their 2022 video<\/u><\/a> of chef Joseph Yoon demonstrating different ways to cook 19 edible insects.<\/p>\n

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Photo: RMIT University, Australia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marketing and awareness can help gain tremendous amounts of traction in normalizing entomophagy. Cultural norms are ingrained, but still moveable. Here are five strategies to move the needle:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Lower the Barrier to Entry<\/h1>\n

Containing up to 70% protein by weight, as well as vitamins and minerals such as iron and vitamin B12 with a neutral flavor, cricket flour is a safe and healthy on-ramp for those hesitant to eat an insect whole.<\/em><\/p>\n