It's wild to me to see such an anti-insect eating tirade on HN. Just observe the comments here: almost every highly upvoted comment is anti-insect, and the comments that express any positive sentiment towards eating insect is flooded with angry responses. Bizarre.
Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
251–260 of 495 posts
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#252It's wild to me to see such an anti-insect eating tirade on HN. Just observe the comments here: almost every highly upvoted comment is anti-insect, and the comments that express any positive sentiment towards eating insect is flooded with angry responses. Bizarre.
https://montanadailygazette.com/2022/07/27/bugs-the-real-rea...
The linked article sounds scientific, but the same author wrote this: "they" are trying to poison "us" rant.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Lastly, disgust is a part of the human immune system. This is the most important bit. Too many "rationalists" who otherwise preach evolution all the time forget to notice that our sense of disgust is also evolved just like everything about us for the purpose of survival and reproduction and is not just some annoying irrational quirk that gets in the way of doing the right thing.
I thought the generally accepted science was that humans can learn disgust reactions socially, so that they are more adaptable on a non-evolutionary timescale. > The disgust system is a psychological mechanism for producing pathogen avoidant behaviour [10–12]. In previous work, we have stressed the universality of disgust, showing that there is much that is similar about disgust responses between animals and humans,…
There's a strong cultural component when it comes to disgust. People in many parts of the world eat insects regularly as a part of their standard diets. In the US, most people don't think of honey or lobster (aquatic arthropod) or carmine (red food coloring) as "insect food" but these items most definitely fit in that category and are commonly consumed.
In the past, people in the west found yogurt, sushi, and lobsters absolutely disgusting. Now many will happily eat those foods, and even consider them delicacies.
Some disgust reactions are hard-wired (e.g. reactions to fecal matter or vomit), and others are culturally learned.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#254My modest goal these days is to set myself and my descendants up so that none of us ever has to eat bugs. I don't care what it costs. Life isn't worth living if you can't happily chomp a steak, suck down a martini and light a cigarette at the table. It's not to piss people off. It's for enjoyment. Fuck people who can't enjoy life and want to make everything a disgusting misery for other people. If eating cockroaches…
> want to make everything a disgusting misery for other people
Wait, who's doing this? All I've seen is advocation for eating insects, not people trying to make others do the same. The comments in this thread would make one think there's a government mandate to eat some ration of insects daily and to criminalize meat consumption. What did I miss?
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#255It's wild to me to see such an anti-insect eating tirade on HN. Just observe the comments here: almost every highly upvoted comment is anti-insect, and the comments that express any positive sentiment towards eating insect is flooded with angry responses. Bizarre.
https://montanadailygazette.com/2022/07/27/bugs-the-real-rea... The linked article sounds scientific, but the same author wrote this: "they" are trying to poison "us" rant.
It seems that if anybody is trying to change anyone else's eating habits, it's the anti-bug folk in here.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, even modern farm raised pork is dangerous to eat undercooked.
Weirdly chicken is dangerous to eat undercooked or raw, but there aren't as many cultural taboos against it.
Were chickens present in the cultures 2000 years ago when the taboos developed? Honest question.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#257If insects were such a valuable and risk free source of nutrition wouldn't we see a lot more human cultures eating them? They've been around forever, but somehow we share a mostly common disgust for eating bugs. Is it farfetched to assume that perhaps that disgust allowed us to survive.
A lot of animals do eat insects however, so it is not that they are dangerous a priori. Our evolutionary ancestors, small mammals/primates, most likely did eat insects. We somehow evolved them out of our diet. Strange actually, since they are quite abundant.
Plenty of cultures currently eat insects.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#258I don’t get why it’s so hard for people to just stop eating animals.
Over the years I've seen several female friends try to stay vegan. One managed a decade before she couldn't put up with the anemia any more. The others quit sooner, because of weight loss, malnutrition, and other issues. It seems humans were evolved to scavenge animals as well as eating plants. It's not just protein, it's iron and fats, and a few other things.
We evolved to hunt animals. The evidence being our capacity for long distance running, our bipedal stature freeing up our forelimbs for grabbing / killing with tools, our intelligence, our dentition. We shouldn't be ashamed of this fact any more than you should be ashamed that your dog or cat is a carnivore. At least we have the choice to not be cruel to the animal as we eat it, we can kill it humanely rather than disemboweling it and eating it guts first while it's still screaming in pain.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#259Big fan of Black Soldier Fly farming and there are efforts with grasshoppers. Not sure the featured article (TFA) issue extends beyond the few people working in production (increasingly automated [1]) because the output is a dry meal flour. This, Seaweeds, and directed precise fermentation are a big part of the 10B+ people solution. [1] https://www.rebelnews.com/worlds_largest_cricket_farm_finish...
>This, Seaweeds, and directed precise fermentation are a big part of the 10B+ people solution.
I think people generally agree now that the world population will decline well before 2100. So maybe sell your house before then.
Re: Edible insects role in transmission of parasitic diseases to humans (2019)
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
Insects and crustaceans (shrimps, lobsters, etc.) are closely related; I always joke that shrimps are just under water bugs. Lots of people that are disgusted by one, enjoy eating the other. Disgust is mostly cultural and learned. Obviously, some of our gag reflexes are about detecting things that are bad. Like rotting meat or things that have gone off. But then we ferment and rot lots of things intentionally and the…
This is exactly why I don't eat shell fish. I have always thought they look like underwater bugs and the thought of eating them is revolting. I am fine with others eating whatever they want, and my wife eats them but its just not for me.
I think bivalves are usually considered shellfish and they just look like muscle. Except for oysters, which look like snot or something and I'm unsurprised when people don't want to eat that.