Althouse: "Mission to Improve Global Health Through Insects won Climate Quest, a UW-Madison sustainability competition... for efforts to implement mealworms to improve malnutrition and climate in Zambia..."

February 27, 2015

"Mission to Improve Global Health Through Insects won Climate Quest, a UW-Madison sustainability competition... for efforts to implement mealworms to improve malnutrition and climate in Zambia..."

"UW-Madison graduate students Rachel Bergmans and Valerie Stull... are creating samples of kits they plan to present this fall to communities in Zambia, where insects are already part of community diets... Stull and Bergmans have created recipes such as smoothies and cookies that include mealworms to help promote the consumption of insects."

48 comments:

Gahrie said...: We here in the US eat more insects than we would like to admit. take a look at the USDA guidelines for food production at some point....; 2/27/15, 9:14 AM
traditionalguy said...: I guess this means eating beef is a big no no. The Cow god doesn't like seeing his image being eaten.

But why can't they have cheese?; 2/27/15, 9:15 AM
Gahrie said...: But why can't they have cheese?

Might be lactose intolerant. Many of the non-European populations of the world are.; 2/27/15, 9:19 AM
Meade said...: Casu marzu.; 2/27/15, 9:20 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Do starving people in Zambia have blenders?

How can smoothie recipes be for Zambia?; 2/27/15, 9:25 AM
MayBee said...: Althouse- my questions exactly!; 2/27/15, 9:27 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: First-world solution to third-world problem.

I, for one, welcome our new insect hors d'oeuvers.; 2/27/15, 9:42 AM
Fernandinande said...: "insects are already part of community[sic] diets"

So the girls are really just advertising themselves.

"One possible tasting event may take place on the UW-Madison campus to educate community[sic] members and fundraise for scholarships in the Department of Entomology."

"The larvae started to decrease in weight soon after reaching their maximum size suggesting that they should be harvested shortly before reaching their maximum length (36 days old)...

These worms are harvested from trees in Africa but the industry is facing droughts and overexploitation that has lead to local extinctions in several areas."; 2/27/15, 9:55 AM
Bob Boyd said...: These're whatcha cal yer hand-crafted smoothies. They're smooth, just not as smooth.

Its only a matter of time before Hipsters are mobbing artisanal smoothie shops in NYC and SF.; 2/27/15, 10:03 AM
Unknown said...: New federal guidelines for school lunches 3...2...1; 2/27/15, 10:03 AM
Alexander said...: Here we go again. Example #48572950 that the thing that the left hates more than anything in the world, more than carbon dioxide, the Koch Brothers, Americans not playing European football, deregulated economies, and white people criticizing Obama COMBINED...

... is the peasant class enjoying meat.; 2/27/15, 10:22 AM
Skyler said...: What an insult. And how idiotic.

You poor people can't have real food for humans. Here's some grubs. That's all you're worth.; 2/27/15, 10:25 AM
MadisonMan said...: From the article:

Presently, Stull has been farming and using mealworms in her home.

(Note to self: Decline dinner party invitations from this person).

Why doesn't the Cardinal Writer know the meaning of Presently?; 2/27/15, 10:26 AM
Johanna Lapp said...: Worms are not insects.
That's just basic science.
They could look it up.; 2/27/15, 10:27 AM
traditionalguy said...: @ skylar...Don't you know it is the poor surplus people who are the ones destroying the climate by eating co2 breathing things.

Get a grip man. We have to stop them. And feeding them protein food like beef and providing them cheap carbon based electrical appliances to store and cook beef would just mean they live to procreate more babies that destroy more climate. You are not a Denier are you? You need to read Thomas Malthus.; 2/27/15, 10:31 AM
cubanbob said...: What is this UW-Madison nonsense? The worms are and have been part of the local cuisine since forever. They are usually fried or grilled and eaten as a side dish among other sides in addition to beef or local meats. Smoothies is something that college kids might come up with for themselves to get them to eat the worms.; 2/27/15, 10:33 AM
rhhardin said...: It's the apple of knowledge of good and worms.; 2/27/15, 10:33 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Don't be fooled. This is just another example of corporatist hegemony. Big Mealworm will eat us all.

<:=========>; 2/27/15, 10:35 AM
Bob Ellison said...: I could envision human-powered blenders for Zambia. Maybe connect the blades to an exercycle-like contraption.

That's the ticket. I'm off to the patent office.; 2/27/15, 10:37 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Or! Power the blenders from fermented poop coming from the mealworms themselves. It'd be perpetual mealworm!

[reCaptcha word: "Byson"...that's another way to go for Zambians]; 2/27/15, 10:39 AM
Lyle said...: I am with Althouse. There is a deep ignorance and therefore pointlessness to this. If the Zambians haven't figured out how to do this with what they have, it's not going to work.

This is like well-meaning white supremacists trying to teach native Americans how to farm in the Dakotas. Stupid!

Arrogant university educated westerners know best though.; 2/27/15, 10:40 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Johanna Lapp said...

Worms are not insects.

Mealworms are not worms.; 2/27/15, 11:02 AM
Bobber Fleck said...: Improved malnutrition? Isn't that a bad thing?

The mealworm/climate relationship is new to me. If we all raise mealworms in our basements will the oceans recede and the planet heal?

I'll bet the parents of Rachel Bergmans and Valerie Stull are thrilled to be paying tuition/room and board in support of the Zambian mealworm menu.; 2/27/15, 11:35 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
Do starving people in Zambia have blenders?"

And even if you give them blenders, do they have electricity?; 2/27/15, 11:35 AM
BudBrown said...: They beat a zoology professor and a professor of medicine. And they did it the old fashioned way - provide free samples! "The pair also brought some roasted mealworms for attendees to sample. Those who tasted the worms described them as crunchy with a slightly nutty flavor." They should set up shop at Sam's Club.; 2/27/15, 11:43 AM
David said...: Am in the middle of a book about the French Revolution. If only Marie Antoinette had thought of worms. Or rodents, which were abundant in Paris.; 2/27/15, 11:49 AM
madAsHell said...: Why do we want to "improve malnutrition"?; 2/27/15, 11:49 AM
Temujin said...: Yes, there's worms. Or…here's an idea. Export Capitalism to them.; 2/27/15, 12:17 PM
David said...: Spock is dead.

RIP Spock.; 2/27/15, 12:19 PM
Skyler said...: Traditional guy, you're right. We need another solution. Instead of feeding poor people grubs, which allows them to procreate, we should instead take their babies and feed those to the poor people. Problem solved. Thanks, Jonathan Swift.; 2/27/15, 12:26 PM
Julie C said...: Well-Meaning, Misguided College Gals: Here, villagers! We bring you recipes for mealworm smoothies and delicious cookies! Eat more worms and your climate will improve!

Villagers: Oh, great. Thanks a lot. MORE fucking worms. And what the hell is a smoothie?; 2/27/15, 12:40 PM
madAsHell said...: "He's dead, Jim."

Leonard Nimoy has passed.
RIP Leonard Nimoy.; 2/27/15, 12:47 PM
damikesc said...: I bet they'd love GM food.; 2/27/15, 12:50 PM
Gahrie said...: Yes, there's worms. Or…here's an idea. Export Capitalism to them

Good idea...but you have to colonize them for 50 years (two generations) like we did Japan and South Korea for it to work; 2/27/15, 12:55 PM
Fernandinande said...: Zambians starve as food aid lies rejected

Because Science! "The GM? Yes, the radio says it's poison."; 2/27/15, 12:57 PM
Fernandinande said...: Let them eat worm cake.; 2/27/15, 12:57 PM
Fernandinande said...: Temujin said...
Export Capitalism to them.

Give a man some worms and you feed him for a day; teach a man to worm and you feed him for a short lifetime.; 2/27/15, 12:59 PM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/27/15, 1:11 PM
Brian said...: "How can smoothie recipes be for Zambia?"

Mortar & pestle.; 2/27/15, 1:37 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Fernandinande said...

Zambians starve as food aid lies rejected

Carbs?!? Are you trying to kill them?; 2/27/15, 3:14 PM
Leon said...: AS SOMEONE WHO GREW UP IN ZAMBIA...
this whole mindset pisses me off. Sure Zambians eat a wide variety of food we don't but on a regular basis the type of caterpillar referred to in the article was only ever eaten rarely. mostly because they were seasonal and you had to live in the country to get them. they were dried and sold to the cities for people nostalgic for food from their youth. even 30 years ago the supply was very limited. today probably even more so.; 2/27/15, 3:32 PM
Rusty said...: How many years of evolution and it's come to this?
Bugs?; 2/27/15, 3:51 PM
MadisonMan said...: Really, Althouse, if you're going to talk about UW research, how about this or this? Much more interesting!; 2/27/15, 5:38 PM
Nancy Reyes said...: talk about cultural ignorance.

Hello!
Some Bantu tribes eat insects but they are NOT a major source of food or protein in their diet, any more than crickets are a major source of protein here in the Philippines.

And "smoothies"? Give me a break. That is a modern western food. Why should rural Africans (or urban slum dwellers) decide to eat something so foreign in their diet? Or are they aiming at the urban middle class, who might be willing to eat something exotic.

I worked in Zimbabwe and our hospital had a nutrition village. You use foods people will eat, and give them the means to raise them: we supplied hybrid Chickens that laid lots of eggs, rabbits, which could be raised in cages, and encouraged the use of ground nuts and peanuts for our malnourished babies. We also encouraged using easily digestible grains instead of corn for their children's porridge, and supplied high protein yeast powder to make a type of non alcoholic high protein drink.

and don't forget: Prolonged breast feeding. Too many slum mothers see ads for powdered milk and the result is they can't afford the milk as the kid gets older, and the kid dies from dirty bottles.

The best idea that I have read that works is from a South American charity tht introduced cuys to raise. They breed fast and can be kept in cages. Of course cuys, a type of guinea pig, is not as exotic as meal worms, but they taste better.; 2/27/15, 5:42 PM
David said...: Thank you Leon.; 2/27/15, 9:16 PM
Wince said...: Are they saving the Nobel Prize for the first person to serve up human shit for dinner?; 2/27/15, 10:50 PM
Rusty said...: Ya ever have lutefisk, Leon, or matzos.
They taste like shit.
There's a reason the Swedes and the Jews never took over the world. Their food tastes like shit.
Hamburgers and fries?
Worldbeaters.; 2/28/15, 7:19 AM
ken in tx said...: Motzas taste like unsalted stale crackers. It's not great but it's not shit.; 2/28/15, 12:34 PM