Bugs. The word doesn’t exactly evoke a laid table with warm food and a delicious buffet. It just evokes that “eww” reaction we all naturally have when we think of these creepy crawlers. But environmentalists around the world believe that bugs might as well be the food of the future and that we should all start switching cows for crickets. Here are some very compelling reasons why we should start eating bugs.
1. It’s more efficient – As much as we like cows, we can only eat around 40 percent of the animal. A portion of the non-edible parts (like the hide) gets used in other industries, but there is still a lot of cow we simply throw away. Crickets, on the other hand, are 80% edible, which means that raising them for food would make much more sense than raising cows.
2. It consumes less resources – In order to produce one pound of beef, we need 10 pounds of feed, which means a lot of agricultural resources are needed to bring that steak to your plate. The same 10 pounds of beef, however, can be used to produce six pounds of insect protein, which is exactly as healthy and will fulfill your nutritional needs.
3. It saver water – Water is a precious resource, you don’t need me to tell you that, especially now that we are facing several droughts around the world. Did you know that it takes 1,800 gallons of water to create one single pound of beef? On the other hand, one pound of insect protein only requires one gallon of water to be produced. Now, that’s sustainable protein.
4. It makes better use of limited space – During its lifetime, one cow will use the resources of two acres of land all by itself. When you compare that to the 4′ x 6′ pen that it’s needed to produce 55 to 65 pounds of crickets, there really is no competition. In a world where we are constantly deforesting new areas for agriculture, eating protein that takes less space to be produced could very well save a rainforest or two. Not too shabby for a bunch of crickets.
5. There are enough insects for everyone – The UN is seriously considering the idea that insects might be the solution to finally end world hunger. There are forty tons of insects in the world to every human, that’s more than enough to eat your heart out. Besides there are over 1000 varieties of insects that are edible to humans, so you are probably going to find something you like.
6. Some countries are already eating insects – Thailand and Cambodia are two countries where they already eat insects on the regular. The first ones deep-fry crickets and the seconds eat tarantulas. This means there is already a world of exotic recipes we haven’t even tried, and it involves insects.