Eating bugs sounds disgusting? If you have ever eaten a crawfish, lobster, crab, or shrimp then you have already eaten members of the class Arthropoda, of which insects are a part. So popping a big juicy beetle, cricket, or cicada into your mouth is only a step away.
You have, in fact, probably already eaten many pounds of insects in your lifetime. Most Americans don't realize that they are eating a pound or two of insects each year. This is because insects are a part of all processed foods from bread to tomato ketchup--it's impossible to keep mass-produced food 100% insect-free. There are regulations stating the maximum amount of bug bits that food can contain and still be fit for human consumption. These bits, unseen, have been ground up into tiny pieces in such items as strawberry jams, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, frozen chopped broccoli, etc. For example, the "Food Defect Action Levels", as currently defined by the Food and Drug Administration state that macaroni and noodle products can have 225 or more insect parts per 225 grams of product (4). This may sound disgusting, but these insect parts actually make some food products more nutritious.
Many people all over the world eat insects and other arthropods both as a delicacy and staple. This is sensible because insects are nutritious. Insects provide as much protein pound per pound as lean beef. For example, every 100 gram serving of each, termites provide 617 calories of energy while lean ground beef gives 219 and cod gives 170 (3). Although their amino acid content is not as well-balanced for human nutrition, this can be easily corrected by including fiber and other plant proteins into your diet. Insects are also a good source of minerals and some vitamins, especially for people who have limited access to other animal proteins.
Overall, over 1,000 insect species are eaten by humans (2). Archaeo-logical evidence tells us that entomophagy has been practiced since mankind first made an appearance on this planet. It would appear that all are edible though--some insects are toxic and may cause allergic
reactions —so one needs to be careful about what they are consuming. Here are just a few examples of insects that are eaten around the world: • Witchetty Grub is the caterpillar of the large Cossid Moth (Xyleutes leucomochla Turn) which lives inside and feeds on acacia stems and roots. Eaten raw by Australian aborigines, they are said to taste of almonds. Ten large grubs provide all the calories, protein and fat that an adult human needs in a day (1). • The people of Zaire eat more than 35 different types of caterpillars, usually toasted or sautéed in butter. In parts of Africa where winged termites emerge in dense numbers, they are eagerly collected. They emerge with the first rains at the end of the dry season when the people are weak from malnutrition. They are either fried, roasted and eaten salted, or ground into flour. In Nigeria, stock cubes based on termites are easily available (2). • Dragonflies and damselflies are hunted and eaten in Bali. They are caught with a sticky stick and then eaten grilled, or boiled with spices. • Filipino farmers flood their fields to capture mole crickets that are sold to restaurants. • In Mexico, chocolate covered bees and bees in syrup are canned and sold and exported as a gourmet item. • Sago grubs are popular for cooks in Papua New Guinea, most often boiled or roasted over an open fire. • In India and Indochina, a paste of green weaver ants is a spicy condiment. These ants also spice up rice in Borneo and is made into a drink in Australia. • You can buy deep fried Giant Water Bugs at streetside stalls in Thailand. An extraction of its abdominal glands are used to flavor many Thai dishes. • And finally, wasps have the highest protein content of all edible insects (80%) and the larva is food in rural parts of Thailand and Laos. Fried wasps, mixed with boiled rice, sugar, and soy sauce was a favorite dish of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. The benefits to eating insects are numerous, as many of these societies have discovered. Most insects are a cheap, tasty protein source, that requires less land area and feed than cows or pigs. For example, one hectare of US ranch land supports 100kg of beef, but can support 1 ton
of insects. For those of us that are watching our waistlines, it is worth noting that they are low in fat and cholesterol. And finally, they are far cleaner in their own eating habits than other creatures: grasshoppers and crickets eat fresh, clean, green plants whereas crabs, lobsters and catfish eat any kind of foul, decomposing material. Fifty years ago, it was common for an apple to have worms inside, bean pods with beetle bites, and cabbage with worm eaten leaves. While this might seem initially unappealing to the average consumer, the consequence was that fewer pesticides were used on these products, making them an overall much safer and healthier food to eat. If Americans could tolerate more insects in what they eat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could relax the limit for insects and their parts in food crop. This would allow farmers to significantly reduce the amount of pesticides applied to their crops each year. And I am sure that you would agree that it is far better to eat more insects and less pesticide residue!
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