Insects are a normal part of the culinary landscape throughout much of the world. It’s only in Europe and North America where insects are not commonly eaten – but this seems to be changing, fast. The debate on whether we should all be eating insects seems to be reaching fever pitch, with more and more Western chefs, scientists, food experts and ecologists getting on board with the idea of entomophagy.
You might have noticed the number of news reports on entomophagy increase over the past few years. Or perhaps you’ve heard about one of the world’s most celebrated chefs, René Redzepi, experimenting with ants on his menu at Noma in Copenhagen. Redzepi even tasked the researchers at the Nordic Food Lab (an organisation he co-founded to investigate ‘food diversity and deliciousness’) to explore insect gastronomy. Edible insect companies have sprung up around the world, and now there is a business and brand for everything entomophagy-related, from cricket farms to cricket-flour protein bars.
This interest, buzz and entrepreneurship didn’t happen overnight. Back in 2009, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) started advocating a move towards eating insects. A global meeting in Chiang Mai in Thailand championed insects as the most viable alternative source of protein to meat because of their ecological friendliness. Often, it can take several years before what makes sense to scientists makes sense to (and is embraced by) the public at large. But people are starting to understand the considerable benefits. If you still need convincing, we’ve broken down the growing argument for eating insects here…
For starters, farming insects has many environmental advantages over rearing other animals for food. Farming insects creates significantly less greenhouse gas and ammonia than other livestock. Insects are also more very efficient at converting feed to protein because they are cold-blooded, so they don’t need to burn calories to keep themselves warm. And they don’t need anywhere near as much feed: to produce the same amount of protein, crickets consume 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and half as much as chickens.
But perhaps the biggest eco benefit is the preservation of water. Fresh water is the world’s most precious resource and its increasing scarcity means that a barrel of it has at times demanded a higher price than oil. Agriculture, including the rearing of livestock, has been known to take priority over drinking water in some of the world’s poorest countries. This shocking fact is even more shocking when you drill down into the statistics. Producing one kilo of grain-fed beef requires roughly 13,000 to 15,000 litres of fresh water – that’s 2,100 litres for a 150-gram burger. In contrast, one kilo of cricket protein only requires eight litres of water. That’s a huge difference!
But entomophagy isn’t just about the environment. We often hear the term ‘superfood’ being bandied about, but insects really are just that, and people are cottoning on to their nutritious value. Insects are extremely high in protein: the freeze-dried crickets Grub sells contain 69% protein, and our buffalo worms are 56% protein. Compare this to chicken, which on average contains 30% protein (but is often the protein source of choice among gym-goers). Insects contain many or all of the nine essential amino acids (depending on which insect you’re eating). For example, mealworms contain as much (gram for gram) omega 3 and 6 as fish such as tuna. Insects also contain vital minerals: cricket flour contains more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach.
There is a wealth of information out there on the eco and nutritional benefits of farming and eating insects, but we won’t go on about that any more here. This book is all about getting you cooking insects and loving the taste. And that’s why Grub focuses on providing simple and tasty recipes for insect beginners (or pros!), and we hope you find this cookbook an entomophagy inspiration.