It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
However it admits that "consumer disgust" remains a large barrier in many Western countries.
Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently "underutilised" as food for people and livestock, the report says. Insect farming is "one of the many ways to address food and feed security".
"Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," according to the report.
May 13, 2013
Let them eat insects.
"The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution."
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So, which colour of solylent is made of bugs?
Does that apply to cheese mites or are they not insects?
In reality most people eat more insects than they realize.
I'm sure there are some practical problems to deal with before you can feed your cattle a diet of wasps and beetles.
"The use of insects on a large scale as a feed ingredient is technically feasible, and established companies in various parts of the world are already leading the way,"
IOW, it's advanced to where there's lots of hand-waving.
Makes sense.
But out UN. You eat a beetle if you want to.
lemondog, They mite be.
When Al Gore does, I'll at least consider it ...
I'll have the larvae over a bed of fishing worms and a side of mucus... ah.. you have any fresh placenta?
When the intellectual who wrote that advice starts a diet of insects, I'll pay more attention. Doesn't that just sound like a NY Times reader ?
Other than the antenneas, eyeballs, wings, hairy feet, stingers, jaws, and hard chitin exoskeleton, insects are fun to eat.
The more bugs you eat the less guilt they feel when eating beef.
Chapulines!
Chapulines!
Will PETA become outraged if bug eating goes big time in the West?
Wait for genetically engineered chicken sized grasshoppers.
Well, intellectually I know they're a source of protein and not harmful at all. Plus, if people can eat crustaceans, they should be able to eat insects (sure, different class, but same phyla - arthropoda - at least... very distant relatives, but crustaceans and bugs are relatives all the same). So yeah, rationally I can't form a reason-based objection.
But emotionally, my stomach just recoils at the thought. I lost my appetite just now thinking about eating bugs. Yeech... no matter how rational the arguments are, I just can't grok on the notion. I can't think of bugs without that little spine shiver running down my neck (*brrrr*).
Most people eat shrimp, which is a large, aquatic insect.
@Michael
"Chapulines"!
I had Chapulines once in Mexico, in a Poblano restaurant in Toluca. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Meaning I'll never do it again.
SERE school writ large.
Offhand, I'd say this might be an admission all those Lefty economic schemes haven't turned out so well.
Geoff Matthews said...
So, which colour of solylent is made of bugs?
Well, we know Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green are taken, so I'd say Olive Drab or some other Bile Green.
The point the UN really wants made is the poor folks need to eat less cows.
The protein in beef is the best for every person's needs. But the serfs of the world are designated to eat insects and the beef is to be reserved for Eco-rulers.
Someone needs to develop a home system that would recycle household waste by using it to grow insects in your little backyard or basement bug garden that you could then eat saving many trips to the grocery store. Composting excellence!
cubanbob said:
"The more bugs you eat the less guilt they feel when eating beef.
Carne offsets?
Are insects on the menu yet at the UN dining room?
That could be a start.
Maybe Mayor Bloomberg could mandate it?
I'd be curious to see how health inspectors -- not known for flexible thinking -- would deal with a restaurant that serves insects. Are the flies, millipede and mealworms that infest the kitchen an indicator of a dirty kitchen, or are they on tonight's
menu, or both!!
That pizza with meal worms in the article looks particularly gross.
I could see this catching on someday big time, with companies developing a variety of flavorful bugs and bug products. How do animal rights activists and vegetarians feel about this bug eating? I know ones who draw the line at mammals, others at chordates.
BUGGGS!!! Soylent Green is BUGGGS!!!
In the new Obamavilles, we will be eating insects. Enjoy it, while the First Family dines nightly on Wagyu beef.
Victory Insects.
Wait for genetically engineered chicken sized grasshoppers.
Original recipe or extra-crispy?
We'd probably all eat insects if they were processed into something that looked and tasted like a candy bar or a potato chip.
Unless scum harvested off the top of giant algae tanks costs less to produce.
traditionalguy said...
The point the UN really wants made is the poor folks need to eat less cows.
The protein in beef is the best for every person's needs. But the serfs of the world are designated to eat insects and the beef is to be reserved for Eco-rulers.
We have a winner!!!!
Amex, The reason folks don't realize shrimp are ocean insects is because our country always serves them sans head. The first time my daughter ever saw a whole shrimp was when we were in Italy. She was 19 @ the time.
I'm sure there are some practical problems to deal with before you can feed your cattle a diet of wasps and beetles.
Sure. The experts thought it was just fine to grind up cow remains, spinal cords etc, and feed them to other cows. The result? Mad Cow disease
Cows are not carnivores. It was a perversion of nature to feed dead cows to living cows. So if we start feeding insects to herbivores in massive quantities nothing bad could possibly happen. Right?
I'll have to be damned hungry to purposely eat a plate of wasps or crickets.
Had a seving of deep fried scorpions in China once. Tasty. Crunchy and sweet.
"The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution."
It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
Well, yeah, because they're too damn poor to eat stuff that tastes good. Like cheeseburgers.
Amex, The reason folks don't realize shrimp are ocean insects is because our country always serves them sans head.
It's a shame because shrimp, like lobster, taste best when they are freshly cooked and whole.
However, a plate of shrimp, some dungeness crab, crawdads or a lobster tail, seem to be acceptable insects to eat. ESPECIALLY with garlic butter!! What they all have in common is that they are from aquatic habitats and are not necessarily pests as other insects are perceived to be. Crickets, locusts, roaches, wasps, worms......blech.
When I'm starving I might consider it....but until then. Nope.
If I was still living in the Virginia, I'd be looking to scoop up some cicadas. I never tried them, but I'd like to.
Well, yeah, because they're too damn poor to eat stuff that tastes good. Like cheeseburgers.
It's not really a matter of wealth but what you are use to. In Thailand and Laos, I've seen people choose insects (believe they were crickets) over cheaper snacks. Personally, I find them repulsive, but I eat sausages, which probably has some really repulsive ingredients.
In its pamphlet outlining "Food Defect Action Levels", the FDA states:
"The alternative to establishing natural defect levels in some foods would be to insist on increased utilization of chemical substances to control insects, rodents and other natural contaminants. The alternative is not satisfactory because of the very real danger of exposing consumers to potential hazards from residues of these chemicals, as opposed to the aesthetically unpleasant but harmless natural and unavoidable defects."
An Ohio University study estimates the average American consumes two pounds of insect parts per year.
My father used to call fried okra, 'grasshoppers and crickets.' My younger brother and sister believed him and ate them anyway.
Delicious!
There are a lot of bureaucrats around the world that could more gainfully be turned into Soylent Green!
How does that song go? Oh, yeah...
♫ They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please / They're feeding our people them government fleas. ♫
Has PETA been tapped for comment? Hello? Bueller? Bueller? Crickets. Oh wait.
I thought the USDA frowned on eating insects. I mean, aren't there all sorts of government controls in place to make sure that insects are not part of our diet?
My father used to call fried okra, 'grasshoppers and crickets.' My younger brother and sister believed him and ate them anyway.
Do you remember Sylvester the cat's oft-used line, "I'll make mincemeat out of that mouse"?
For a long time, I would not eat my grandmother's mincemeat pie, becasue I thought it was made of mouse meat.
I'm waiting for the NYT's column on this new foodie place that serves insects and such and the with-it, trendy students and intellectuals who grace the place with their presence.
So I can laugh at them.
Dust Bunny Queen said...
When I'm starving I might consider it....but until then. Nope.
Nope. I'm feeding all the bugs to the slowest person and then eat that person.
Win!
When I see insects on the menus at White House state dinners or when they are served in the UN cafeteria - well I don't have to think of what I'll do when those things happen because they won't happen. Yet this is the year of 17 year locusts - they will be very available in Washington DC and NYC.
I would think the larval stage would be the most advantageous since there's no exoskeleton to deal with and it's mostly just a blob of protein in a soft, flexible casing.
Some sort of soylent variant would be the way to go, probably using the larvae. I'd probably eat it. Well, maybe not all the time, but definitely in a camping sort of environment.
I have trouble eating anything I've seen alive, and have difficulty with invertebrates generally. I do, however, get some weird thrill out of ripping open and consuming crab legs. That's the 6-yer old in me. "Hee! I'm eating a giant spider!"
Wagyu beef for me, not thee.
"Let them eat insects"
Queen Moochelle May 13, 2013
I remember hearing this when I was a kid in the 1970s.
I don't want to eat bugs. I don't have to eat bugs. So, are they going to force me to eat bugs?
Mmmmmm, termites!!!
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