The image of crickets, mealworms, and other bugs crawling their way into our pastas, dips, and desserts certainly isn’t a savoury one, but it might soon be a reality. Entomophagy—also known as the “practice of eating insects”—is on the rise due to the surprising sustainability and nutrition of bugs. Torontonians are dabbling in the insect eating trend, consuming treats like cricket empanadas, scorpion lollipops, and mealworm Bolognese that are available throughout the city. Next Millennium Farms, an insect farm in Ontario that opened in 2014, has also been growing tremendously. U of T even has its own bug eating club, Bug Bites, that champions “food consciousness and sustainable consumption, on campus and beyond.”
Insect products certainly have a market in Toronto, but are insects just the city’s latest food fad, or are they here to stay?
The Benefits
A 2013 paper by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations listed a host of positive reasons for consuming insects, such as the following:
- Insects are high in protein, good fats, and important minerals
- Insects produce fewer greenhouse gases than livestock
- Insect rearing doesn’t usually entail land clearing
- Insect rearing is accessible to low-income areas
One Hop Kitchen, the company responsible for the cricket and mealworm Bolognese sauces, claims that one jar of their sauce “saves 1900 L of water compared to beef” and that five pounds of insects can be farmed for every pound of beef with the same amount of resources. Claire Shenstone-Harris, Co-President of Bug Bites, says that insects have a significantly smaller carbon footprint that other meats because they require less food and water, take up less farmland, and have a shorter harvesting time.
“I think entomophagy is the way of the future and should be practiced by way more people around the world,” says Shenstone-Harris. “I am extremely passionate about the environment and environmental issues so I eat bugs primarily for its sustainability, though they are also quite healthy for their incredible protein content and micronutrients.”
Although entomophagy has its benefits, it is difficult to picture the rest of Canada jumping on the insect bandwagon in the near future. This could be because of…
The Stigma
Studies cited in the United Nations’ paper showed that most people in the Western world are simply disgusted by the concept of consuming insects and view it as something primitive. However, two billion people throughout the world are estimated to frequently partake in entomophagy. Tarantulas, locusts, dragonflies, and larvae are enjoyed in many different cultures from Asia, Latin-America, and Africa. In Western societies, beloved foods like sushi, shrimp, and lobster were once considered gross and taboo. Because of this, Lorena Narvaez, the other Co-President of Bug Bites, is “confident that those taboos can change.”
“The hunter gatherer ancestors of Westerners used to eat bugs 10,000 years ago so why are we so freaked out by it now?” adds Shenstone-Harris. “But I think we should be more disgusted by the rampant amount of processed foods, where we don’t know half of the chemicals on the ingredients lists or even the factory processes involved. It seems backwards that we don’t have a good knowledge of where our food comes from but we’re freaked out by eating insects.”
Although it’s hard to picture right now, maybe it is really only a matter of time before more Canadians start eating insects. We’ve probably already unintentionally consumed about a pound of insects in the last year, anyway.
Too Good to Be True?
Insects sound like the perfect food for the twenty-first century, especially with booming populations and food insecurity. However, a 2015 studies disagrees. In the study’s results, it was found that crickets were not as protein-rich or eco-friendly as once thought when they were fed the same grain-based diet as traditional livestock, since grain used for farming uses up so much water and energy. Eating insects is also expensive.
“One big downside that comes with eating insects is the cost. As of now, they are extremely expensive and so inaccessible to many people,” says Narvaez. “Not to mention, they are already taboo so high cost is another strong disincentive to begin consuming insects in the day-to-day diet. However, as we see more people asking for insects, we hope to see the price go down.”
“Since crickets and mealworms aren’t sold in grocery stores, we have to order them directly from the producers (Entomo Farms). One pound of cricket flour or roasted crickets costs us 40 [dollars]. So it’s not an affordable lifestyle right now,” says Shenstone-Harris. “What I think is really exciting is that we are very much in an experimental stage. There are so many recipes to explore and create and there is such a range in taste, even for the same species depending on what they’re fed. So we are super excited to experiment with cooking with insects this year.”
The Future of Insect Eating
Although there are conflicting opinions on exactly how nutritious and eco-friendly entomophagy is, the trend seems to be growing in Toronto. Shenstone-Harris noticed that restaurants have more bug-featured dishes and that the bug eating movement seems to be gaining public attention and media coverage, mentioning the entomophagy booth that made an appearance at this year’s CNE and the rumours that supermarket chains will start selling bugs.
“It’s hard to say where the bug-eating movement will end up, just like it’s hard to know if the vegan or gluten free booms right now are just trends or will continue on,” said Shenstone-Harris. “But I think insects have to become a reality for many more people due to global warming and the looming food crises. Tearing up Amazonian rainforest so North Americans can have their burgers just isn’t realistic.”
Although Shenstone-Harris thinks insect eating will eventually become “more normative,” she adds that some people may adapt to insect-eating slowly, or never get over the taboo.
“That [insect eating is] trending in Toronto is great, because in that way the word is spreading,” says Narvaez, but adds that she would hesitate to say that insect eating is trending just yet, since the number of restaurants serving insects is still not a lot. “Also, [it is] important to note that entomophagy is emerging out of a defined purpose, the purpose being to include insects as a common part of our diets in the western world. That is much different than other food trends that might fluctuate from season to season.”
Whether insect consumption is just an experiment for thrills, or a permanent lifestyle choice made in the name of food consciousness, only time will tell. Like we’ve seen in sushi, it’s up to the consumers to transform the cultural perception of food.
Image Source
https://pixabay.com/en/grasshopper-green-insect-konik-1558654/