Entomophagy Today 2014



Cricket, anyone? How about a grasshopper or a witchetty grub? According to this Wikipedia article, 80% of the world's people today still eat insects, including in North, South and Central America. “Today insect eating is rare in the developed world, but insects remain a popular food in many developing regions of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. There are some companies that are trying to introduce insects into Western diets.” I got to know a Chinese woman, not American Chinese, but from Beijing, and once she was describing the finery at her wedding to me. She said they had a dish that is considered a great delicacy as one of the foods at the banquet. She struggled for words to describe it, then gave up and drew me a picture on a piece of paper – unmistakably a scorpion with its poisonous tail held up over its body. Her parents are well-off, her father is a professional in the army, so this is not poor people's food. It helped me to open up my Western mind to new things.




Entomophagy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Entomophagy (/ˌɛntəˈmɒfədʒi/, from Greek ἔντομον éntomon, "insect", andφᾰγεῖν phagein, "to eat") is the consumption of insects as food. The eggs, larvae, pupae and adults of certain insect species have been eaten by man since prehistoric times and continue to be an item of the human nutrition in modern times.[1] While insects are eaten by many animals, the term "entomophagy" is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; non-human animals that eat insects are known as insectivores. There are also some species of carnivorous plants that derive nutrients from insects.
Human insect-eating is common to cultures in most parts of the world, includingNorth, Central and South America; and Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Over 1,000 species of insects are known to be eaten in 80% of the world's nations.[2] The total number of ethnic groups recorded to practice entomophagy is around 3,000.[3] However, in some societies insect-eating is uncommon or even taboo.[4][5][6][7] Today insect eating is rare in the developed world, but insects remain a popular food in many developing regions of Latin America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. There are some companies that are trying to introduce insects into Western diets.[8]

Entomophagy is sometimes defined broadly to include the practice of eating arthropods that are not insects, such as arachnids (tarantulas mainly) andmyriapods (centipedes mainly).[9] The term is not used for the consumption of other arthropods, specifically crustaceans like crabs, lobsters and shrimp. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known asinsectivores. There are also some species of carnivorous plants that derive nutrients from insects.

Some of the more popular insects and arachnids eaten around the world includecrickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, ants, various beetle grubs (such as mealworms), the larvae of the darkling beetle orrhinoceros beetle,[10] various species of caterpillar (such as bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms andwaxworms), scorpions and tarantulas. There are 1,417 known species of arthropods, including arachnids, that are edible to humans.[11]
Recent assessments of the potential of large-scale entomophagy have led some experts to suggest entomophagy as a potential alternative protein source to animal livestock, citing possible benefits including greater efficiency, lower resource use, increased food security, and environmental and economic sustainability.[12][13][14][15]

History[edit]

Before humans had tools to hunt or farm, insects may have represented an important part of their diet. Evidence has been found analyzing coprolites from caves in the US and Mexico. Coprolites in caves in the Ozark Mountains were found to contain ants, beetle larvae, lice, ticks, and mites.[19] Evidence suggests that evolutionary precurors of Homo sapiens were likely also entomophagous. Insectivory also features to various degrees amongst extant primates, such as marmosets and tamarins,[20] and some researchers suggest that the earliest primates were nocturnal, arborealinsectivores.[4] Similarly, most extant apes are insectivorous to some degree.[21][22][23]
Cave paintings in Altamira, north Spain, dated to about 30,000 to 9,000 BC, depict the collection of wild bee nests, suggesting a possibly entomophagous society.[citation needed] Cocoons of wild silkworm (Theophilia religiosae) were found in ruins in the Shanxi province of China, from 2,000 to 2,500 years BC. The cocoons were discovered with large holes, suggesting the pupae were eaten.[19] Many ancient entomophagy practices have changed little over time compared with other agricultural practices, leading to the development of modern traditional entomophagy.[19]

Current examples

Entomophagy can be divided into two categories: insects used as a source of nutrients and insects as condiments.[24] Some insects are eaten as larvae or pupae, others as adults.

Traditional cultures

There are a plethora of cultures that embrace the consumption of insects, and a variety of species are consumed. These include 235 types of butterflies and moths, 344 species of beetles, 313 species of ants, bees and wasps, 239 species of grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches, 39 species of termites, as well as 20 species of dragonflies, among others. Other commonly eaten insects are termites, cicadas and dragonflies.[25] Insects are known to be eaten in 80% of the world's nations.[2] The consumption of Atta laevigata is traditional in some regions of Colombia and northeast Brazil. In southern Africa, a species of moth called Gonimbrasia belina is found throughout much of the region; its large caterpillar, the mopani ormopane worm, is a source of food protein. In Australia, Witchetty grub is considered a source of food amongst the Indigenous population.

Use of insects as an ingredient in traditional foodstuffs in some places has been on a large enough scale to have a sizable impact on insect populations. The commercial exploitation of food insects has led to their decline in some places.[26]

Western culture

Eating insects has not typically been adopted in the West. However, a few companies have introduced products made using insects. The primary vehicle for this so far has been powder made from insects utilized as an ingredient (often referred to as insect flour, cricket flour, cricket powder, or whole cricket powder). The first company to use cricket flour was Chapul,[27] which launched a project on Kickstarter on July 12, 2012, to make a protein bar with the cricket flour[28] and followed up with a successful appearance on ABC's Shark Tank, partnering with Mark Cuban. A US company, All Things Bugs, manufactures and sells whole cricket powder wholesale to other small startup companies that use it in protein bars, baked goods and other products.[29] One such startup is Exo, which successfully used Kickstarter in to 2013 to fund an initial batch of protein bars made with cricket flour.[30] The bars are now available for sale online.[31]

Restaurants

There are also restaurants that serve insects to the public on a regular basis. For example, two places in Vancouver, Canada, offer cricket-based items. Vij's Restaurant has parathas that are made from roasted crickets that are ground into a flour.[32][33][34][35] Its sister restaurant, Rangoli Restaurant, offers pizza that was made by sprinkling whole roasted crickets on naan dough.[34][35][36][37][38]

Reality TV

Entomophagy has been featured on some reality television shows, such as Fear Factor.[39] Barrington Hall, a formerstudent cooperative at U.C. Berkeley held an annual insect banquet for many years until the co-op was closed down in 1990. The New York Entomological Society held a Centennial Banquet on Wednesday, May 20, 1992 at the Explorers Club in New York. The theme for the evening banquet was the use of insects as food. Appetizers and desserts featured insects in their preparations.[40][41] The Explorers Club itself holds an annual dinner at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel featuring a wide array of unusual dishes including many featuring insects.[42] Theme park operator Six Flags Inc, based in New York, staged a contest as part of a promotion leading up to Halloween in which it also offered customers free entry or line-jumping advantages if they ate a live Madagascar hissing cockroach; the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) opposed the overall promotion. "Insects do not deserve to be eaten alive especially for a gratuitous marketing gimmick," PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio told Reuters.[43][44]

Advantages

Food security[edit]

Insects as food and feed emerge as an especially relevant issue in the twenty-first century due to the rising cost of animal protein, food and feed insecurity, environmental pressures, population growth and increasing demand for protein among the middle classes.[45] At the 2013 International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition, theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a publication titled "Edible insects - Future prospects for food and feed security" describing the contribution of insects to food security.[45] It shows the many traditional and potential new uses of insects for direct human consumption and the opportunities for and constraints to farming them for food and feed. It examines the body of research on issues such as insect nutrition and food safety, the use of insects as animal feed, and the processing and preservation of insects and their products.

Minilivestock

The intentional cultivation of insects and edible arthropods for human food, referred to as minilivestock, is now emerging in animal husbandry as an ecologically sound concept. Several analyses have found entomophagy to be a more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional animal livestocking.[12][46]

Edible insects have long been used by ethnic groups in Asia,[47][48][49][50][51][52]Africa, Mexico and South America as cheap and sustainable sources of protein, and the major role of entomophagy in human food security is well-documented.[14] Up to 2,086 species are consumed by 3,071 ethnic groups in 130 countries.[53] While more attention is needed to fully assess the potential of edible insects, they provide a natural source of essential carbohydrates,proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins and offer an opportunity to bridge the gap in protein consumption between poor and wealthy nations but also to lessen the Ecological footprint.[14] Many insects contain abundant stores of lysine, an amino acid deficient in the diets of many people who depend heavily on grain.[54] Some argue that the combination of increasing land use pressure, climate change, and food grain shortages due to the use of corn as a biofuel feedstock will cause serious challenges for attempts to meet future protein demand.[13]

In Thailand, two types of edible insects (cricket and palm weevil larvae) are commonly farmed in the north and south respectively.[55] Cricket-farming approaches throughout the northeast are similar and breeding techniques have not changed much since the technology was introduced 15 years ago. Small-scale cricket farming, involving a small number of breeding tanks, is rarely found today and most of the farms are medium- or large-scale enterprises. Community cooperatives of cricket farmers have been established to disseminate information on technical farming, marketing and business issues, particularly in northeastern and northern Thailand. Cricket farming has developed into a significant animal husbandry sector and is the main source of income for a number of farmers. In 2013, there are approximately 20 000 farms operating 217 529 rearing pens.[55] Total production over the last six years (1996-2011) has averaged around 7 500 tonnes per year.

In the Western world, agricultural technology companies such as Tiny Farms[56] have been founded with the aim of modernizing insect rearing techniques, permitting the scale and efficiency gains required for insects to displace other animal proteins in the human food supply.

Therapeutic foods

In 2012, Dr. Aaron T. Dossey announced that his company, All Things Bugs, had been named a Grand Challenges Explorations winner by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[57] Grand Challenges Explorations provides funding to individuals with ideas for new approaches to public health and development. The research project is titled "Good Bugs: Sustainable Food for Malnutrition in Children".[57] Director of pediatric nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Frank Franklin has argued that since low calories and low protein are the main causes of death for approximately 5 million children annually, insect protein formulated into a ready-to-use therapeutic food similar toNutriset's Plumpy'Nut could have potential as a relatively inexpensive solution to malnutrition.[58] In 2009, Dr. Vercruysse from Ghent University in Belgium has proposed that insect protein can be used to generate hydrolysates, exerting both ACE inhibitory and antioxidant activity, which might be incorporated as multifunctional ingredient into functional foods. Additionally, edible insects can provide a good source of unsaturated fats, thereby helping to reduce coronary disease.[3]

Indigenous cultivation[edit]

Edible insects can provide economic, nutritional, and ecological advantages to the indigenous populations that commonly raise them.[59] For instance, the mopane worm of South Africa provides a "flagship taxon" for the conservation of mopane woodlands. Some researchers have argued that edible insects provide a unique opportunity for insect conservation by combining issues of food security and forest conservation through a solution which includes appropriate habitat management and recognition of local traditional knowledge and enterprises.[59] However, senior FAO forestry officer Patrick Durst claims that "Among forest managers, there is very little knowledge or appreciation of the potential for managing and harvesting insects sustainably. On the other hand, traditional forest-dwellers and forest-dependent people often possess remarkable knowledge of the insects and their management."[60]
Similarly, Julieta Ramos-Elorduy has stated that rural populations, who primarily "search, gather, fix, commercialize and store this important natural resource", do not exterminate the species which are valuable to their lives and livelihoods.[53] According to the FAO, many experts see income opportunities for rural people involved in cultivation. However, adapting food technology and safety standards to insect-based foods would enhance these prospects by providing a clear legal foundation for insect-based foods.[60]

Pest harvesting[edit]

Some researchers have proposed entomophagy as a solution to policy incoherence created by traditional agriculture, by which conditions are created which favor a few insect species, which then multiply and are termed "pests".[13] In parts of Mexico, Sphenarium purpurascens is controlled by its capture and use as food. Such strategies allow decreased use of pesticide and create a source of income for farmers totaling nearly $3000 per family. Some argue that pesticide use is economically inefficient due to its destruction of insects which may contain up to 75 percent animal protein in order to save crops containing no more than 14 percent protein.[13]

Environmental benefits[edit]

The methods of matter assimilation and nutrient transport used by insects make insect cultivation a more efficient method of converting consumed matter into biomass than rearing traditional livestock; more than 10 times more plant nutrients are needed to produce one kilogram of meat than one kilogram of insect biomass.[13] The spatial usage and water requirements are only a fraction of that required to produce the same mass of food with cattle farming. Production of 150g of grasshopper meat requires only very little water, while cattle requires 3290 liters to produce the same amount of beef.[61] This indicates that lower natural resource use and ecosystem strain could be expected from insects at all levels of the supply chain.[13] Edible insects also display exponentially faster growth and breeding cycles than traditional livestock. An analysis of the carbon intensity of five edible insect species conducted at the University of Wageningen, Netherlands found that "the average daily gain (ADG) of the five insect species studied was 4.0-19.6 percent, the minimum value of this range being close to the 3.2% reported for pigs, whereas the maximum value was 6 times higher. Compared to cattle (0.3%), insect ADG values were much higher." Additionally, all insect species studied produced much lower amounts of ammonia than conventional livestock, though further research is needed to determine the long-term impact. The authors conclude that insects could serve as a more environmentally friendly source of dietary protein.

Insects generally have a higher food conversion efficiency than more traditional meats, measured as efficiency of conversion of ingested food, or ECI.[62] While many insects can have an energy input to protein output ratio of around 4:1, raised livestock has a ratio closer to 54:1.[63] This is partially due to the fact that feed first needs to be grown for most traditional livestock. Additionally endothermic (warm-blooded) vertebrates need to use a significantly greater amount of energy just to stay warm whereas ectothermic (cold blooded) plants or insects do not.[61] An index which can be used as a measure is the Efficiency of conversion of ingested food to body substance: for example, only 10% of ingested food is converted to body substance by beef cattle, versus 19–31% by silkworms and 44% by German cockroaches. Studies concerning the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) provide further evidence for the efficiency of insects as a food source. When reared at 30 °C or more and fed a diet of equal quality to the diet used to rear conventional livestock, crickets showed a food conversion twice as efficient as pigs and broiler chicks, four times that of sheep, and six times higher than steers (oxen) when losses in carcass trim and dressing percentage are counted.[19]

Insects reproduce at a faster rate than beef animals. A female cricket can lay from 1,200 to 1,500 eggs in three to four weeks, while for beef the ratio is four breeding animals for each market animal produced. This gives house crickets a true food conversion efficiency almost 20 times higher than beef.[19] For this reason and because of the essential amino acids content of insects, some people, on ecological grounds, propose the development of entomophagy to provide a major source of protein in human nutrition.

Impacts of animal agriculture[edit]

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),animal agriculture makes a "very substantial contribution" to climate change, air pollution, land, soil and water degradation, land use concerns, deforestation and the reduction of biodiversity.[64] The high growth and intensity of animal agriculture has caused ecological damage worldwide; with meat production predicted to double from now to 2050, maintaining the status quo's environmental impact would demand a 50 percent reduction of impacts per unit of output. As the FAO states, animal livestock "emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." [64] Some researchers argue that establishing sustainable production systems will depend upon a large-scale replacement of traditional livestock with edible insects; such a shift would require a major change in Western perceptions of edible insects, pressure to conserve remaining habitats, and an economic push for food systems that incorporate insects into the supply chain.[15]
Greenhouse gas emission[edit]

In total, the emissions of the livestock sector account for 18 percent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gasemissions,[12] a greater share than the transportation sector.[64] Using the ratio between body growth realized and carbon production as an indicator of environmental impact, conventional agriculture practices entail substantial negative impacts as compared to entomophagy.[12] The University of Wageningen analysis found that the CO2 production per kilogram of mass gain for the five insect species studied was 39-129% that of pigs and 12-54% that of cattle. This finding corroborates existing literature on the higher feed conversion efficiency of insects as compared to mammalian livestock. For four of the five species studied, GHG emission was "much lower than documented for pigs when expressed per kg of mass gain and only around 1% of the GHG emission for ruminants."[12]

Land use[edit]

Animal livestock is the largest anthropogenic user of land.[64] 26 percent of the Earth's ice-free terrestrial surface is occupied by grazing, while feedcrop production amounts to 33 percent of total arable land. Livestock production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the planet's surface. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock activity such as overgrazing, erosion, and soil compaction, has been the primary cause of the degradation of 20 percent of the world's pastures and rangeland.[64] Animal livestock is responsible for 64 percent of man-made ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain.[64] By extension, animal waste contributes to environmental pollution through nitrification and acidification of soil.[12]

Water pollution[edit]

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 64 percent of the world's population is expected to live in water-stressed basins by 2025. A reassessment of human usage and treatment of water resources will likely become necessary in order to meet growing population needs.[64] The FAO argues that the livestock sector is a major source of water pollution and loss of freshwater resources:
The livestock sector [...] is probably the largest sectoral source of water pollution, contributing to eutrophication, "dead" zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs, human health problems, emergence of antibiotic resistance and many others. The major sources of pollution are from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures. Global figures are not available but in the United States, with the world's fourth largest land area, livestock are responsible for an estimated 55 percent of erosion and sediment, 37 percent of pesticide use, 50 percent of antibiotic use, and a third of the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus into freshwater resources. Livestock also affect the replenishment of freshwater by compacting soil, reducing infiltration, degrading the banks of watercourses, drying up floodplains and lowering water tables.[64] (brackets added)

Disadvantages[edit]

Spoilage[edit]

Researchers from Wageningen University and the FAO published an evaluation of the potential of edible insects as a protein source in the August 2012 issue of Food Control.[65] The researchers found that "spore forming bacteria are a potential spoilage and safety risk" for both cooked and uncooked insect protein. While more study is needed before integration into the food supply, current data suggest that while edible insects must be processed with care, simple methods are available to prevent spoilage.[65]

Toxicity[edit]

In general, many insects are herbivorous and less problematic than omnivores. Cooking is advisable in ideal circumstances since parasites of concern may be present. But pesticide use can make insects unsuitable for human consumption. Herbicides can accumulate in insects through bioaccumulation. For example when locust outbreaks are treated by spraying, people can no longer eat them. This may pose a problem since edible plants have been consumed by the locusts themselves.[19]

In some cases, insects may be edible regardless of their toxicity. In the Carnia region of Italy, moths of the Zygaenidaefamily have been eaten by children despite their potential toxicity. The moths are known to produce hydrogen cyanideprecursors in both larvae and adults. However, the ingluvies (or crop) of the adult moths contain cyanogenic chemicals in extremely low quantities along with high concentrations of sugar, making Zygaena a convenient supplementary source of sugar during the early summer. The moths are very common and easy to catch by hand, and the low cyanogenic content of the ingluvies make Zygaena a minimally risky seasonal delicacy.[66]
Cases of lead poisoning after consumption of chapulines were reported by the California Department of Health Services in November 2003.[67] Adverse allergic reactions are also a possible hazard.[68]

Cultural taboo

Within Western culture, entomophagy (barring some food dyes, such ascarmine) is seen as taboo.[69] There are some exceptions. Casu marzu, for example, also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio, is a cheese made in Sardinia notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzu means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian and is known colloquially as maggot cheese. A scene in the Italian film Mondo Cane (1962) features an insect banquet for shock effect, and a scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom features insects as part of a similar banquet for shock factor. Western avoidance of entomophagy coexists with the consumption of other invertebrates such as mollusks and the insects' close arthropod relativescrustaceans, and is not based on taste or food value.[69]
Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence consider scorpions haraam, but eating locusts as halal. Others prohibit all animals that creep, including insects.[70][71]
Within Judaism, most insects are not considered kosher, with the exception of a few species of locust which are accepted by certain communities (see Kosher locust). Honey is, however, considered kosher.

Public health nutritionist Alan Dangour has argued that large-scale entomophagy in Western culture faces "extremely large" barriers, which are "perhaps currently even likely to be insurmountable."[58] The anthropologist Marvin Harris has also suggested that the eating of insects is taboo in cultures that have other protein sources that require less work to obtain, such as poultry or cattle, though there are cultures which feature both animal husbandry and entomophagy. Examples can be found in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe where strong cattle-raising traditions co-exist with entomophagy of insects like the mopane worm.

Policy instruments[edit]

International policy[edit]

The Food and Agriculture Organization has displayed an interest in developing entomophagy on multiple occasions. In 2008, the FAO organized a conference to "discuss the potential for developing insects in the Asia and Pacific region.".[60] According to Durst, FAO efforts in entomophagy will focus on regions in which entomophagy has been historically accepted but has recently experienced a decline in popularity.
In 2011, the European Commission issued a request for reports on the current use of insects as food, with the promise that reports from each European Union member state would serve to inform legislative proposals for the new process for novel foods.[72] According to NPR, the European Union is investing more than 4 million dollars to research entomophagy as a human protein source.[73]

Unintentional ingestion[edit]

In practice, it is not possible to eliminate pest insects from the human food chain. Insects are present in many foods, especially grains. Food laws in many countries do not prohibit insect parts in food, but rather, they limit the quantity. People in rice-eating regions, for example, typically ingest significant numbers of rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) larvae, and this has been suggested as an important source of vitamins.[74]

The Food and Agricultural Organisation specifies in the Codex Alimentarius standard for wheat (Codex Standard 152-1985 : Codex Standard for Wheat Flour) that :[75]
3.1.2 Wheat flour shall be free from abnormal flavours, odours, and living insects. 3.1.3 Wheat flour shall be free from filth (impurities of animal origin, including dead insects) in amounts which may represent a hazard to human health.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's The Food Defect Action Levels booklet.[76] Contamination on the average of less than 150 insect fragments per 100 grams of wheat flour poses no health hazard.

See also[edit]

Ethnoentomology
Feed conversion ratio
Taboo food and drink
The Food Defect Action Levels
Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects (book)
The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook (book)



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http://travel.usnews.com/features/Countries_That_Eat_Bugs/

Countries That Eat Bugs
BY MIRIAM B. WEINER | APRIL 28, 2011

Slimy, scary, "the size of a Buick" — we use a lot of terms to describe bugs, but "yummy" isn't usually one of them. We associate insect ingestion with reality television shows like Fear Factor, which week-after-week portrays contestants wolfing down everything from live cockroaches to plump caterpillars. But before you add "eating bugs" to the list of things you'll never ever do, consider this: Insects are actually far more nutritious than other common forms of protein, even fish. For example, 100 grams of top sirloin beef contains about 29 grams of protein in addition to a whopping 21 grams of fat, while 100 grams of grasshopper contains 20 grams of protein and a measly six grams of fat. Big difference! Many scientists believe that entomophagy -- insect eating -- will not only benefit our health, but also the planet. In an interview with The Guardian, Belgian entomologist Arnold van Huis says that farming insects emits 10 times less greenhouse gas than farming livestock.

So why are we so disgusted by the thought of munching on bugs? Pennsylvania State University professor Manfred Kroger tells National Geographic that our eating habits are conditioned by our culture. We see insects as the destroyers of crops and ruin-ers of picnics rather than a food source, while many cultures — primarily in Africa, Asia and South America — rely on creepy-crawlies as their main source of protein. As naturalist, author and "Bug Chef Extraordinaire" David George Gordon tells the Telegraph, "Insects are the most valuable, underused and delicious animals in the world." Here are a few countries that have already hopped on the bug bandwagon:
Thailand
Citizens of Thailand are no strangers to entomophagy. In fact, fried bugs are commonly served with beer (like peanuts at a bar). Once more prevalent in the Northern provinces like Isan, snacking on these vermin is now a regular occurrence in major cities like Bangkok, where vendors sell crispy insects from carts at outdoor markets. One of the country's most popular snacks is Jing Leed, a deep-fried cricket seasoned with Golden Mountain sauce (similar to soy sauce) and pepper. Other favorites include grasshopper, woodworm, bamboo worm and Maeng Da, or 3.5 inch-long water beetles. While most insects sold by Thai street vendors are prepared the same way, each variety is said to have its own distinct flavor.

Ghana

While we normally consider termites to be a pesky (and costly) household plague, Ghanaians see them as a delicious and nutritious snack. However, in Ghana, eating bugs is much more than a lifestyle choice -- it's a means of survival. Other types of food are often in short supply during the country's spring months, when many Ghanaians are busy planting crops. Luckily, the season's heavy rains force winged termites to flee their underground homes. The termites are high in proteins, fats and oils, all of which are needed for a healthy, well-balanced diet. The insects can be fried, roasted and even ground into flour for baking purposes.

Mexico

You probably won't find any creepy-crawlies at your local cantina, but insects have been a staple in Mexican cuisine for centuries. And these days, you'll find that they suit just about every taste. French-fried caterpillars offer a satisfying crunch, while ant eggs are served with so much butter that even Julia Child would approve. Chocolate-covered locusts and candy-covered worms make getting your daily dose of protein oh-so sweet. If the thought of consuming insects still makes you queasy, take some time to drink it in down in Oaxaca (a state in southern Mexico), where a potent alcohol called mezcal is served with a "worm" — the larval form of the moth Hypopta agavis — submerged in the glass.

China

To us, bugs are nature's practical joke. But in China, they're considered delicacies. The Chinese snack on a wide variety of insects, from water bugs boiled and then soaked vinegar to live scorpions doused in baijiu, a robust liquor. While Chinese citizens eat all sorts of insects, the country's finer restaurants tend to serve its delicacies in the larval state. Chinese gourmands enjoy roasted bee larvae and fried silkworm moth larvae, which are both rich in nutrients like copper, iron, riboflavin, thiamin and zinc. And when temperatures begin to drop, the Chinese keep warm with a steaming bowl of ant soup. 

Brazil

The Chinese aren't the only people who like ants; in Brazil, içás, or queen ants, are a favorite snack. Although ants were once eaten only by poorer citizens, this tradition is now celebrated. Every October and November, these massive winged ants emerge from underground to the delight of the residents of Silveiras, a small town in southwest Brazil. Here, they collect the ants, remove their wings and fry 'em up (or dip them in chocolate). There's even an arts and crafts center devoted to the içá-eating tradition, where you'll find everything from dishes to aprons featuring images of the beloved bug. Are you wondering whyiçás are so popular? Silveiras' townspeople claim that they taste just like mint.

Australia

Although the trend hasn't really caught on in the more urban areas, many of Australia's indigenous cultures eat insects for protein. Back in the day, preparing creepy-crawly cuisine was a painstaking process: The Aborigines cooked moths in the sand, stirring in hot ashes to help remove the bugs' wings and the legs. Today, Oz's native societies still thrive on insects like honey-pot ants — which use their bodies as a portable pantry — and witchetty grubs, or large, wood-eating moth larvae. Roasted witchetty grub has a crispy skin with a yellowy filling that's said to taste a little like almonds.

Japan

Bugs have been a staple of Japan's cuisine for centuries due to their abundance. In fact, during rough agricultural and economic times, insects were the main means of survival for many rural populations. Today, bugs are becoming a more common sight on Japanese menus: Restaurants all over the country serve up hearty portions of hachi-no-ko (boiled wasp larvae), sangi (fried silk moth pupae) and zaza-mushi(aquatic insect larvae). The Japanese also enjoy munching on fully grown insects such as semi (fried cicada) and inago (fried grasshopper). And though noshing on insects is still a little taboo here — particularly in the cities — many Japanese people are beginning to broaden their culinary horizons.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is one of the few European nations beginning to embrace entomophagy. While Dutch insect breeders face a barrier of Western criticism, gourmands like Johan Van Dongen — head of the meat department for the food distributor Sligro, believes that once people learn to sink their teeth in, they'll never go back. The New York Times wrote an article about Van Dongen's efforts to convert his fellow countrymen: He set up tasting stands offering passers-by samples of whole insects as well as chocolate infused with ground mealworms. "When they see the bugs, they’ve already eaten them in the chocolate," Van Dongen tells the Times. "Some people scream, ‘Oh, my God!’ But if you do it once, then you do it twice."

USA

Eating bugs is now part of the challenge of participating in reality TV shows like Survivor and Fear Factor. But believe it or not, bugs are being consumed on our own home turf when the cameras are off. If you own red lipstick or have ever snacked on red candy, chances are that you've ingested cochineal, an insect native to South America that is used to produce red dye. Bugs are also becoming prevalent in sweets. Many candy shops like Hotlix in Pismo Beach, California, are famous for selling chocolate-covered ants and cricket lollipops. It comes as no surprise that children welcome the concept of entomophagy with open arms, and with such sweet treats at hand, it might be time for us adults to follow suit.


COMMENTS


Sharath Chandra Vemuganti · St. Peter's Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
delicious to some in reality but in comprehensible to vegetarians like me. world is thus diverse.
Reply · Like · Follow Post · May 15 at 3:23pm

Kelly Chen · Follow ·  Top Commenter · Junior Small Fry Position at Wheelchair pusher · 711 followers
Good list! Was researching this when I came across your article. Many people are surprised that Netherlands are into insects as well.

By the way, Bali ppl also eat dragonflies cooked in coconut milk, ginger etc. Cambodia and Vietnam are also into insects for food.

Swamminah Grace
eeeeeeeeeeeeeee ihave liked

Ibrahim Aljahdali
eww

Magda Swisher · Follow · Houston, Texas
I'd be selective and eat insects, if that is all I could get a hold of, to survive. Too bad the French convict, Henri Charrière ("Papillon"), portrayed by Steve McQueen, didn't have many choices. In one scene, he consumes a centipede--certainly NOT an insect; and those disgusting F*g cockroaches, or whatever landed or found its way into his cell. But he survived.

Arturo Rizzo ·  Top Commenter · Margate, Florida
ill make a quiche tomorrow (NOT).

Philip Duarte ·  Top Commenter
Brazil has plenty of real food, and we certainly don't dine in insects. Now, it's not that we despise insects because of our culture. That is only natural, since they are so different from mammals, reptile, birds and fish. Culture / sheer necessity is the sole reason for anyone to eat these grotesque things in the first place.


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