Entomophagy is not new to the human diet, although it's new to a lot of people. Grasshoppers and other insects are eaten in Mexico, I've seen canned silkworm pupae in East Asian grocery stores in America, there are edible insect vending machines in Japan, and some museum gift stores in the US sell candy with insects in them as a novelty. Personally, I have never eaten them and don't intend to since I don't eat animals (I just indirectly kill them; vegetarian moment). There's a recent push by neoliberals to get white people to eat bugs, causing a lot of anxiety along the lines of "you will eat bugs and sleep in the pod", right? In the EU, they've even started approving putting insect powder in foods to fortify them.
I guess I lean against it. We should be moving away from eating animals and not just for sustainability sake. Are they even especially good at producing protein? And even if we can grow insects where we can't grow soybean, why not just grow single-celled protein? Then there's the fact that people are squeamish about bugs so instead companies are just turning them into protein powders to put into food. So soon vegetarians and vegans may have to worry about insect powder being in things that don't need them in addition to all the other pervasive ingredients (whey, bonito, oyster sauce, animal-derived monoglycerides, eggs etc.). And they will use lesser-known names to trick people into eating it.
In summary, just grow mycoprotein and yeast folks. :tofu-cool:
Are they even especially good at producing protein?
Oh yeah, I mean, I can get a pound of meat a day out of a bucket filled with Black Soldier Fly larvae. Think how much more compact that is than if I were farming cattle.
Yeah I figured they would be better than traditional meat sources of protein. But what about compared to high-protein plants, mycoprotein farming, or engineered yeasts and bacteria? Oh and also do chitin or other things interfere at all?
Entomophagy is not new to the human diet, although it's new to a lot of people. Grasshoppers and other insects are eaten in Mexico, I've seen canned silkworm pupae in East Asian grocery stores in America, there are edible insect vending machines in Japan, and some museum gift stores in the US sell candy with insects in them as a novelty. Personally, I have never eaten them and don't intend to since I don't eat animals (I just indirectly kill them; vegetarian moment). There's a recent push by neoliberals to get white people to eat bugs, causing a lot of anxiety along the lines of "you will eat bugs and sleep in the pod", right? In the EU, they've even started approving putting insect powder in foods to fortify them.
I guess I lean against it. We should be moving away from eating animals and not just for sustainability sake. Are they even especially good at producing protein? And even if we can grow insects where we can't grow soybean, why not just grow single-celled protein? Then there's the fact that people are squeamish about bugs so instead companies are just turning them into protein powders to put into food. So soon vegetarians and vegans may have to worry about insect powder being in things that don't need them in addition to all the other pervasive ingredients (whey, bonito, oyster sauce, animal-derived monoglycerides, eggs etc.). And they will use lesser-known names to trick people into eating it.
In summary, just grow mycoprotein and yeast folks. :tofu-cool:
Oh yeah, I mean, I can get a pound of meat a day out of a bucket filled with Black Soldier Fly larvae. Think how much more compact that is than if I were farming cattle.
Yeah I figured they would be better than traditional meat sources of protein. But what about compared to high-protein plants, mycoprotein farming, or engineered yeasts and bacteria? Oh and also do chitin or other things interfere at all?
They're considerably better than other animals, but fungi and bacteria are just phenomenal, and we've only been doing those for a few decades