Okay, hear me out, although just the idea of eating crickets may freak even the most adventurous person out, it can actually benefit you. Also eating crickets isn’t that insane since the other half of the world treat it as a delicacy. We are just so used to associating insects as pests when we really should be looking at them as a sustainable alternative to animal protein. I personally tried cricket ice cream before and let me tell you, not as bad as you may think.
Who’s eating crickets already?
About 80% of the world population are eating bugs (including crickets) and genuinely enjoying it, the other 20% has not yet accepted the fact that crickets are in fact a suitable food option. (I’m looking at you America). In cities like Oaxaca, Mexico, eating grasshoppers also known as chapulines, is as normal as eating any other Mexican dish. The Netherlands is also embracing the insect culture by providing people with free samples of crickets. Countries like Japan, Brazil, Ghana, Australia, and Thailand rely on insects as one of their top sources of protein.
The reason why we are so opposed to trying crickets that are also known as a delicacy is that it’s not considered “normal” in our culture. Our society has turned bugs into some kind of villain straight out of a horror movie, and the media knows no one would want that on their plate any time soon. The main focus of cricket-eating activists is to rewind that mental process and replace “scary villain” with “reliable and easily accessible food source”.
Filled with an abundance of nutrients and protein
Insects provide a rich nutritional diet that consists of eight essential amino acids, vitamin b12, riboflavin, the biologically active form of Vitamin A and other minerals. House crickets are especially high in protein and share a close protein resemblance to ground beef and powdered whole milk. Crickets contain about 21 grams of protein per 100 grams of cricket while beef contains 26 grams per 100 grams of beef and milk contains 26 grams per 100 grams of milk.
Crickets are also healthier to eat than meat. A six-ounce serving of cricket has 60 percent less saturated fat and twice as much vitamin B-12 than the same amount of ground beef.
More sustainable than beef and chicken
As the world population skyrockets in numbers, so is the demand for more food. At this rate, many scientists believe that we should turn to entomophagy (the practice of eating bugs) as a suitable future to combat food insecurity. The amount of overfishing, land scarcity and climate change from food production is already affecting us today and having to double that amount to feed twice as many people seems unfathomable. This is why scientists are now turning to insects and seeing what they can offer us.
Crickets can be mass-produced and still hold a small carbon and environmental footprint compared to the meat and dairy industry. Crickets are cold-blooded and require less energy to maintain their body temperature so they can convert feed into edible body mass quicker, unlike beef. To put it into perspective, cows consume 8 grams of feed to make edible body mass compared to insects who only need 2 grams of feed. Insects need four times less feed than sheep, and half as much as pigs and chickens to produce the same amount of meat.
When crickets only use half of their energy to create edible body mass, they are saving water, land and pesticide usage that are harmful to the environment. They also produce a fraction of methane, ammonia, greenhouse gasses and manure that play a large and deadly role in the food industry. Insects can also convert agricultural waste that is not edible for humans or animals into edible insect mass. They don’t compete with the human food supply because, unlike most animals, they don’t have to constantly be fed grain and corn.
Products that have crickets in them
If you’re not exactly ready to take on the full insect-to-mouth idea yet, test your palate by trying these cricket infused foods.
Chirps
Chapul Revolution
Price: $36.00 (Pack of 12)
Cricket Flours
Bitty Foods
Price: $29.99 (Pack of 3)
The future is crickets
Although eating crickets may sound intimidating, don’t completely fill your mind with disgust until you’ve tried some. There are many viable reasons why crickets should be your first protein source. Once you get past the mental barrier that insects shouldn’t be consumed, you enter a new sustainable insect-filled future. We will be eating insects just like Timon and Pumba soon enough.