Magazine: Wonder bugs

Eating insects isn’t considered normal in European culture. This attitude won’t change any time soon, even if we know that by 2050 there could be as many as 10 billion people living on planet Earth. Insects carry 90 percent of the planet’s protein content. It is a bit strange that we eat snails, frog legs, oysters, the brain and bowels of mammals but not insects. Our prejudices make us stay away from eating insects, although experts say they can save the world from famine.

Dutch consumer scientist Muriel Verain published her latest research results in March: according to these, people don’t want to eat insects regularly even if they are processed. Still, more than half of respondents have already had insects at least once or would do so. David Marx, founder of the laboratory The Science Kitchen told at the Food Vision Asia 2017 conference that in 3-4 years’ time algae and insects will be the superfoods. Scientists say that approximately 1,400 insect varieties are edible.

The average person usually hears about eating bugs from tabloid media. However, it must be noted that it is very different to put a locust in one’s mouth or to have a biscuit that is made from insect flour. A growing number of enterprises are breeding insects – mainly crickets, locusts and their larvae – to make flour from them. This flour is rich in protein and micronutrients, and can be used to make biscuits and sweets. As the world’s population is growing rapidly, many scientists are busy trying to find ways for utilising insects, either as food or animal feed. In Asia there are already 20,000 insect breeding farms.

According to the latest research results, after the protein extracted from insects in the form of ‘flour’, the second most popular way of utilisation is making oils and fats from bugs In the 2017 forecast of US trade organisation Nation’s Restaurant News, it is mentioned that practically there is no food industry trade exhibition where one wouldn’t come across products made from some kind of bug. Fast food chain Wayback Burgers already sells Oreo Mud Pie Cricket Protein Milkshake.

The European Union is already dealing with the issue of insects’ food industry use. For instance as of 1 July fish can be fed with insect protein and experts say the same will be allowed in breeding poultry and pigs from 2020. As for the European restaurant business, the trade started talking about insects as food in 2015 when several London restaurants got interested in the topic.