Why, On Second Thought, Maybe You Shouldn’t Start Eating Bugs

By Brad Tuttle | @bradrtuttle | March 15, 2011 | +

Not because, well, because they’re bugs—but because it turns out they’re as expensive as beef or caviar.

The idea has surfaced that insects could be the creepy-crawly miracle food of the future. And while grasshoppers and crickets are indeed good sources of protein and low in fat, they’re not all that cheap to raise and bring to market. Not yet anyway.

The NY Times reports on the efforts in the Netherlands to popularize adding insects to the human diet. At a membership-only warehouse type store called Sligro, customers can head up to the meat counter for beef and pork, as well as locusts, buffalo worms, and Bugs Nuggets, which are made with ground mealworms.

Sligro!? Ground mealworms!? Who is running this place, Professor Snape?

Beyond the marketing and gag-reflex issues, there’s another hurdle for those hoping to make insect eating mainstream in the West. That hurdle, according to folks who raise bugs on Dutch farms, is price:

“Wholesale, insects are similar in price to beef now,” Roland van de Ven said, citing the labor-intensive farming methods used. “Locusts are more like caviar.”

Margot Calis, 62, who works with her daughter Marieke on the farm, which employs 10 people, agreed. “The price of insects is much too high,” she said. “There is lots of manual labor involved, and it is too expensive.”

Related Topics: food, insects, Netherlands

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  • http://allbummedout.wordpress.com allbummedout

    Why do you think where there are insects, there is invasive bacteria and fungi, the latter of which can cause stomach and skin fungal infections that require strong anti-fungal medication (simular to that prescribed to women with yeast infections).

    Insects carry bacteria and fungi; and to rid them of these invasive forms of life, they would have to be burned. (Why do you think extremophiles lives on the scalding edges of underwater volcanic vents; they are adaptive to higher temperatures than boiling water.)

    Nobody connects the dots when it comes to eating insects and infection. People in third world countries, although starving, have bloated bellies. You would think the folks of Bangladesh have the best weight loss incentive in the world, but they die of starvation with bloated bellies infected with a host of bacterial, fungal and insect parasites. The less than fresh (read moldy)food they eat is one likely culprit. Why do you think those insects they ingest don’t give them much needed protein?

    I’m not convinced farming insects in clean domestic facilities is the answer, because insects, bacteria and fungi are symbiotic in their interactions. Bacteria and fungi thrive in the digestive systems of insects, and insects play host to these microbes to survive. Animals in the wild that naturally ingest insects have developed immunity in their natural habitat. I suppose if humans one day return to the wild, we too can savor a diet rich in insects and draw nutrients from the micro-organisms they host.

    Until then… I’ll stick with caviar if and when my budget allows.

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