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Farm 432

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Re: Farm 432

#71
post #8
post #3

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. This is a great i…

Lobsters too. Can you imagine steaming and eating a two-pound cockroach? But that's basically what a lobster is. I predict that techniques will be found to make good plant-based meat substitutes or other artificial meat before anyone figures out how to make us happy with eating insects.

Mycoprotien

Re: Farm 432

#72
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of what we eat (steaks, chicken nuggetts, hamburger, bacon) is dissasociated with the source form of the meat. This should probably be the inroad. If people get used to the idea that they're ingesting insects anyhow, then maybe the rest gets easier? I dunno..

What is the point of eating insects, though? Why not just eat lentils?

And have my teeth rot from all the phytic acid?

Re: Farm 432

#73
post #3

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. This is a great i…

> "Maybe processing the grubs/flies into something less recognizable would help, but at some point you read the ingredients and you're back at square one."

How many of the ingredients do you currently understand? Just use the latin name of the insect and no-one would notice. Given the yield, I can imagine that we'll be eating a lot of insects in the future and in many parts of the world larvae/insects are not a problem at all.

Re: Farm 432

#75

Why not just let the animals pasture and eat grass instead of feeding them grain? Factory farms are the big problem.

>>Factory farms are the big problem. Is it wrong to say that factory farms are efficient and therefore less of a strain on resources?

They're cost efficient, not "resource efficient".

Re: Farm 432

#76
The key to successfully introducing insects into the western diet is processing. Processing to remove the chitin exoskeleton (which can be saved and used for making non-edible objects), and processing to remove the product from the direct image of an insect. If you scatter some fried cockroaches over a salad you'll get a some brave souls who will say "eh, crunchy, but not bad"; if you process cockroaches to a 'meat patty' or sausage or 'protein bar' then the large majority would give it an honest try enough to become regular customers.

Re: Farm 432

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Factory farms are the big problem. Is it wrong to say that factory farms are efficient and therefore less of a strain on resources?

They're cost efficient, not "resource efficient".

how is there a difference? less cost = less capital = less resources.

Re: Farm 432

#78
post #3

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs. This is a great i…

Lobsters are closely related to Spiders... yet are considered a delicacy. I even think to my self as I eat lobster, "spider, spider, spider" yet I never get grossed out at eating it. On the other hand I can barely hold a spider much less eat one...

Lobsters are, once you get inside them, just chunks of very uniform "meat" that has very little trace of where it originated. If we could find two-pound spiders, boil them, and serve their cracked-open legs on a plate, people would probably be just fine with eating those.

Re: Farm 432

#79
post #10

Seems like a great source of protein for animals. Would be interesting way to feed chickens.

That's what I kept thinking when I read this. They're trying to replace the whole protein supply chain, but why not trying to supplement it without alienating food culture?

Re: Farm 432

#80
The "Farm 432: Function" video is good. What raised my eyebrow is two larvae from the harvest trap are selected for the next generation.

How do you know which gender the larvae will be? Would the inbreeding cause issues?

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