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Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

kickstarter.com

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Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#51

Post by jacques_chester »

kenster07 wrote: post #45
chops wrote: post #43

A lot of folks are posting bars with similar or better macro-nutrients, but in doing so are missing the point of these bars: their primary market is the paleo crowd. All the ingredients are natural and the list is short, basic, and acceptable to a paleo diet: almonds, dates, coconut, honey, crickets, cacao, vanilla, and sea salt. Compared with the ingredients list for a MetRX bar[1] posted elsewhere in this thread, i…

Your assertion is only correct in the near-term. The ultimate market is the world's poor.

The rise of China demonstrates that when they get the chance, the world's poor switch to a diet rich in meat.

It also demonstrates that not starving to death is more important than fretting about how many grass seeds are in the foodstuff at hand.

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#52

Post by ars »

rdl wrote: post #21
fragsworth wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean protein by itself (without fats or sugars) Even meat protein kinda sucks if you cook all the fat out of it.

What's the problem with protein/fat bars? Rancidity? There are fats (possibly not those found next to meat) which can be more shelf-stable; I wonder if you could use those fats, protein, and chemicals extracted from the tasty fat to have the right stability, taste, and nutrition profile. But that would be "evil food science" so people wouldn't think it was "healthy" I guess.

It exists - it's called Pemmican.

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#53

Post by ars »

quail wrote: post #48
nhangen wrote: post #34

This is gross. I'm a vegetarian, so I'm biased, but am I the only one that thinks moving from animal sourced protein to slow roasted crickets sounds obscene?

If the crickets are "slow roasted" alive, that is cruel (and alarming) although I certainly hope and would think this isn't the case. Anyone have any clarification?

I don't know how they make them, but keep in mind crickets can't feel pain, and are cold blooded (so can't really feel temperature either).

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#54

Post by quail »

ars wrote: post #53
quail wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the crickets are "slow roasted" alive, that is cruel (and alarming) although I certainly hope and would think this isn't the case. Anyone have any clarification?

I don't know how they make them, but keep in mind crickets can't feel pain, and are cold blooded (so can't really feel temperature either).

They can't feel pain? You have a citation for that claim?

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#55

Post by ars »

quail wrote: post #54
ars wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how they make them, but keep in mind crickets can't feel pain, and are cold blooded (so can't really feel temperature either).

They can't feel pain? You have a citation for that claim?

> You have a citation for that claim?

You can use google just as well as I can. Search for "insect feel pain".

They don't have the necessary nerves to carry pain signals.

As an example, if you cut off part of the leg of an ant it keeps walking like normal, and doesn't show any indication that it felt anything. (They used this with a cool experiment that showed ants count steps when navigating - the shorter legs meant they walked a shorter distance, but kept the same number of steps.)

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#56

Post by coldarchon »

__david__ wrote: post #32
harshreality wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your aversion to insects is highly cultural. Plenty of cultures, especially in Asia and Africa, treat insects as common foods and even delicacies. You don't have a problem eating insects if you eat any sort of processed grains. The USDA (or equivalent agency) has distinctly non-zero limits for insect parts and rodent feces in cereal, because it's impossible to economically keep all insects and rodents out of grains.

I understand that, but by making a Kickstarter in English, they are targeting exactly my culture, which isn't keen on eating insects. And yes, everyone knows they slip into our food supply and there's a non-zero chance that we've all eaten them unintentionally, but that doesn't logically mean I'm going to think, "well, I may as well just start going whole hog now!" This is a novelty and will never make it big in our…

>which isn't keen on eating insects.

which is actually very wrong, because this only counts for the last 100 years. Before that many dishes contained insects or their like. May beetle soup was very famous for example, and dont forget that lobster and shrimps are very similar. Oh and when you brush your teeth, huge part of the paste is made of Chitosan, which is part of almost any care cosmetics.

And the word "worm" is very similar in all European languages, which makes us believe they were eaten regularly in ancient times ..

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#57

Post by coldarchon »

quail wrote: post #48
nhangen wrote: post #34

This is gross. I'm a vegetarian, so I'm biased, but am I the only one that thinks moving from animal sourced protein to slow roasted crickets sounds obscene?

If the crickets are "slow roasted" alive, that is cruel (and alarming) although I certainly hope and would think this isn't the case. Anyone have any clarification?

I have a small insect farm as a side project with a friend who is a real farmer, our products are shock-frozen for local restaurants or freeze-dried for shipment orders. They dont feel anything.

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#58

Post by quail »

ars wrote: post #55
quail wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can't feel pain? You have a citation for that claim?

> You have a citation for that claim? You can use google just as well as I can. Search for "insect feel pain". They don't have the necessary nerves to carry pain signals. As an example, if you cut off part of the leg of an ant it keeps walking like normal, and doesn't show any indication that it felt anything. (They used this with a cool experiment that showed ants count steps when navigating - the shorter legs meant…

I did research this topic and recent studies show insects DO feel pain, and unlike you I have a citation to back it up: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867403...

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#59

Post by e12e »

mertd wrote: post #3

20g fat (5g saturated), 27g carbs (14g sugar), 10g protein. Not that great for a "protein" bar.

> 20g fat (5g saturated), 27g carbs (14g sugar), 10g protein.

I have a slice of raw (aquaculture) salmon in my fridge that's 67% water, 19.9 grams of protein and 14% fat (so roughly 14 grams fat, 20 grams protein). 14 grams fat, 20 grams protein (and sugar!) doesn't sound great, no.

And the fish tastes great with some soy and wasabi (or fried, or steamed or...)...

[edit: and most of that is not saturated fat]

Re: Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour

#60

Post by e12e »

enraged_camel wrote: post #41
bricestacey wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the ingredients, I wouldn't be surprised if a relatively large portion of the protein came from the almonds and chocolate. I never understood why people eat this crap when it's so easy to get protein from simple, natural sources.

>>I never understood why people eat this crap when it's so easy to get protein from simple, natural sources. Yep. Eggs. Milk. Protein powder. Even cheese. Protein bars are nice when you're on-the-go though.

> Eggs. Milk. Protein powder. Even cheese.

Am I wrong, or is "one of these things, not like the other"?

What is "protein powder" (made from)? To me it seems like the odd one out? (I'm not saying you shouldn't eat protein powder, but -- it is made from something, right -- most likely(?) powdered egg whites?)

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