Bugged out

Rich in protein and crunch, easy on the wallet and the planet — why don’t we eat more insects?

By Liz Crain

February 25, 2008

Many cultures embrace insects as a food rich in protein, readily available and low on both food miles and eco-impact. But Americans generally give creepy crawlers the culinary cold shoulder.

Grasshoppers for lunch?

Kat, at the food blog Eating Liberally, recently shared her thoughts about edible insects. Although Kat’s never intentionally cooked up insects, she does have a recipe for grasshopper quesadillas from The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook that she’s had her eye on for a while. She covers many reasons why eating bugs is good for us as well as good for the planet.

Kat also references Sam Nejame’s recent New York Times Magazine article, “Man Bites Insect.” After Nejame expounds on the many reasons why we find insects unpalatable, he concludes with this:

Perhaps then it’s no surprise that the concept of bugs as food is getting serious consideration from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Later this month, it will stage a workshop called “Forest Insects as Food: Humans Bite Back” in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Among the questions to be addressed: Why douse fields with pesticides if the bugs we kill are more nutritious than the crops they eat?

Good question.