A South African "fly factory" that uses larvae to convert tons of blood, guts and other farm waste into protein-packed animal feed recently won a United Nations innovation award—a somewhat creepy reminder that insects will someday make up a lot more of what we eat. (click below to read more)
Most Americans probably find the idea of eating bugs disgusting, which is unfortunate for two reasons. First, insects are potentially a vast source of affordable, sustainable protein for the world's growing population. Second, disgust is a powerful emotion and won't be overcome easily—which will make it hard for many to stomach insects when they arrive on our menus.
Chickens and fish have always gobbled insects, so it isn't surprising that bugs are gaining popularity with protein farmers faster than with Western diners. AgriProtein Technologies, whose team won this year's $100,000 Innovation Prize for Africa from the African Innovation Foundation and a U.N. economic panel, says its factory near Cape Town can turn a pound of fly eggs into 380 pounds of larvae in 72 hours. The company sells a dried version of the stuff—akin to fishmeal—as animal feed.
It isn't as if humans can't eat bugs. At least two billion people around the world already dine on the critters—a practice known as entomophagy—according to a new U.N. report, "Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security," which points out that they can be raised on waste products, emit little in the way of greenhouse gases and raise few animal-welfare issues (it isn't even certain they feel pain). Best of all, crickets (for example) are "12 times more efficient than cattle" in converting feed to meat, the report says.
As a result, the world is abuzz with edible insect experimentation. Examples include the Nordic Food Lab in Copenhagen, which has produced mayonnaise and yogurt from bee larvae, and Japan's Insect Cuisine Research Association, which organizes an annual bug-eating festival featuring such traditional delicacies as grasshopper and stonefly larvae.
In the near term, we will likely take in ever more insects through the meats we consume, but the U.N. report notes that tastes can change fast. Americans, for instance, used to shun raw fish. Now sushi is in the supermarket.
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