By: Heather Hegel
As population continues to grow rapidly more and more people are becoming concerned with the idea that some day we will not be able to produce enough food to support ourselves. More people are going hungry every day. As the Malthusian catastrophe theory states, human population grows exponentially while agricultural production increases linearly. This is becoming more evident every day. Human beings are not yet at the maximum for agricultural productivity, as shown by the great distance between state record yields and state average yields, but it will come sooner than many of us think. Groups such as the United Nation realize this and are looking for creative ways to find sustenance.
Recently the United Nations launched a campaign promoting the use of insects as a source of food worldwide. Insects are actually very nutritious and a great source for cheap protein. In fact, a few small grasshoppers contain almost as much protein as ground beef. It is also much less intensive and more cost effective to raise insects over cattle or hogs. It can be done on less land as well, making this absurd idea suddenly become more realistic.
This is by no means a new idea, though. Human beings have been eating insects since we evolved. It is not unheard of even today in cultures around the world. In Mexico many rural families enjoy a mixture of roasted crickets and lime juice with other spices. They eat it on tortillas like we would beef. In many countries in Asia fried grasshoppers are eaten. In Africa insects such as caterpillars, grubs, and termites are eaten to supplement protein. This is actually not that rare of an idea at all. In Canada, Montreal’s Insectarium hosts an insect taste testing event where insect dishes are prepared by top chefs. Many of the people who try insects there enjoy them.
So are these insects really nutritional enough to replace meats like beef or chicken? 100g of small grasshoppers has 20.6g of protein, 36 mg Calcium, 5mg Iron, 238mg Phosphorus, 3.9g carbohydrates, 6.1g fat and 153 calories. A 100g serving of giant water bugs has 62 calories, 19.8g protein, 2.1g carbohydrates, 8.3g fat, 226mg phosphorus, 44mg calcium, 14mg iron, and 8.3g fat. Cicadas are high in protein, low in fat, and contain no carbohydrates.
I shook my head in disbelief the first time I heard this idea. Eating bugs on purpose? No way. I had to look further into it. It turns out its actually quite realistic. I’m not saying that I could see myself eating cricket burgers for dinner, but for countries where finding protein is more of an issue, this could be a very beneficial program. It could help a lot of people get better nutrition at little cost to them.
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