Are Insects Really The Future of Sustainability?
Recently, as in yesterday, I listened to Alie Ward’s Ologies: Entomophagy Anthropology (EATING BUGS) with Dr. Julie Lesnik, and it sparked the question, are insects actually the future of sustainability?
I should note, the consumption of insects as a sustainable, healthy alternative is not new to me. In 2018, I had the great privilege of speaking with Robyn Shapiro, founder of Seek, on her aspirations to normalize eating crickets by creating flours, granola, and protein snack bites. To really sell it, Shapiro also teamed up with a few James Beard award-winning chefs from around the country to release a cookbook stacked with recipes like Adriana Urbina's tamales with cricket masa and Gabrielle Corcos’ tagliatelle with mushrooms and speck
To those wondering, why would anyone eat crickets? Here are a few reasons I’ve learned from that interview. First, crickets are loaded with protein and are high in Omega-3s, B12, iron, and calcium. Second, they do not produce anywhere near the number of greenhouse gases like cattle, sheep, pigs, and even chickens do. Third, the flavor is barely noticeable, which is something customers/patrons have reported back to the Seek team.
All of which was only verified whilst listening to the Ologies podcast with Dr. Lesnik, where she literally blew my mind over and over again.
The first time being with the following metaphor, "Think about the different livestock, from cow to pig to chicken to insects, and how they’re similar to the fuel efficiencies of different vehicles on the road. Cows are your very large trucks that are just eating up resources, and the turnover on that is awful. Pigs might be your SUV. Chickens are your sedan, and crickets are the smart car. Everything scales with size, so the smaller you get the more efficient the animals are at converting the feed you give them, and then converting that to energy and nutrients for us.”
She then expanded on the numbers, stating:
1 pound of beef takes around 2,000 gallons of water to produce
1 pound of whey protein takes 1,000 gallons of water
1 pound of lentils takes 700 gallons of water
1 pound of eggs takes 375 gallons of water
1 pound of soy takes 215 gallons of water
1 pound of crickets takes 1 gallon of water
If the nutritional value is similar and the environmental impact is significantly less, why isn’t eating crickets more mainstream?
A common response is simple, they’re bugs, and there’s a yuck factor involved (thanks Fear Factor). Yet, around two billion people currently eat insects regularly, and it isn’t always baked into a tortilla chip, grounded into flour or prepared by award-winning chefs.
To those wondering if our bodies have what it takes to properly digest insects, the answer is yes. The human gastrointestinal system has chitinase, which can digest chitin, otherwise known as the exoskeleton of an insect. Although, if you have an allergy to shellfish, please proceed with caution.
With all of that being said, are you willing to give it a try?
Header Image Courtesy of Healthline