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Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

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Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#51

Post by ams6110 »

tehchromic wrote: post #33

The article capitalizes on a popular foreboding about resource limits with a thrilling "ick" factor, but it's premise is unsubstantial. I once met an ancient Jewish gentleman who, due to poverty, had been forced to eat lobsters as a youth. In that day they were considered on par with rats as a food source (not to mention they were forbidden by his religious culture) and he had never recovered from the experience, and…

Rats, raised in clean conditions and fed properly, would probably make a good food source. People eat rabbits and squirrels, there's really not much difference.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#52

Post by robbrown451 »

cgh wrote: post #36
tehchromic wrote: post #33

The article capitalizes on a popular foreboding about resource limits with a thrilling "ick" factor, but it's premise is unsubstantial. I once met an ancient Jewish gentleman who, due to poverty, had been forced to eat lobsters as a youth. In that day they were considered on par with rats as a food source (not to mention they were forbidden by his religious culture) and he had never recovered from the experience, and…

The article is about cricket flour, not eating whole crickets. Cricket flour products are already on sale in hundreds of stores. The key is to mass produce the flour as right now it's quite expensive. That's what's specifically addressed in the article, not the issue of convincing people to eat it in the first place.

It has the "ick" factor regardless of whether ground up or not. And the article does talk about flavor, etc.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#53

Post by davidw »

Brakenshire wrote: post #16
Nursie wrote: post #10

People have been publishing this article every few months for as long as I can remember. They may well be an efficient form of protein but... squick. Basically.

It's just unfamiliarity - you would have the same reaction to a prawn if you hadn't grown up with it. And many outsiders would have a similar reaction to squid cooked in its ink (Spain), half-rotted herring (Scandinavia), or even just strongly flavoured blue cheese (everywhere). For that matter, lots of people feel icky about fresh tomatoes. It's not likely to become something which is mainstream overnight, but there…

I always like to bring visitors to Padova down to the piazza for drinks. On some evenings, there's a guy who cooks up delicious octopus that you eat from a plate with toothpicks. My kids love this, and happily slurp up the tentacles and then ask for more. So do I, now, but it did take some getting used to.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#54

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

tehchromic wrote: post #21

I can say that bee larvae taste like raw almonds and cow milk butter and I eat on sight.

I'm going to be seriously disappointed if bee larvae in my region taste differently than raw almonds and cow milk butter.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#55

Post by notahacker »

cgh wrote: post #36
tehchromic wrote: post #33

The article capitalizes on a popular foreboding about resource limits with a thrilling "ick" factor, but it's premise is unsubstantial. I once met an ancient Jewish gentleman who, due to poverty, had been forced to eat lobsters as a youth. In that day they were considered on par with rats as a food source (not to mention they were forbidden by his religious culture) and he had never recovered from the experience, and…

The article is about cricket flour, not eating whole crickets. Cricket flour products are already on sale in hundreds of stores. The key is to mass produce the flour as right now it's quite expensive. That's what's specifically addressed in the article, not the issue of convincing people to eat it in the first place.

Whether the challenge of mass producing cricket flour is actually worth solving of course, depends on demand for the product extending beyond novelty value, which is part of the problem with edible algae, also widely available in stores and rather simpler to produce and yet far from being a mainstream foodstuff.

As far as I'm aware use of cricket flour is also virtually nonexistent amongst the many cultures that consider whole insects a delicacy.

On the basis of both of the above I'd hazard that cricket flour is unlikely to become a significant staple food even if niche businesses perfect the art of cricket-farming.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#56

Post by mmanfrin »

pistle wrote: post #46

I'd try it. I eat raw fish, urchins, rare eggs, rare-ish meat of mammals and fowl. Who knows? Who would know if I would like it better than me? I've eaten whole insects including crickets and the flavor was whatever. The texture of the legs was like trying to eat the tail of a shrimp - impossible. I'll be interested to see what the processing is like as I'm not sure about the utility of a flour that includes fine gra…

I've had cookies made with cricket flour, they tasted normal; wouldn't have been able to tell you anything was different from the taste/texture alone.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#57

Post by dothething »

towelguy wrote: post #48
perdunov wrote: post #38

Don't think so. We'll rather have lab-grown meat.

I'm looking forward more at Soylent[0] than lab-grown meat. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_%28drink%29

Enjoy! http://www.meghantelpner.com/blog/the-soylent-killer/

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#58

Post by putzdown »

If I agreed that edible insects were a novelty today I might be persuaded that they'll be mainstream tomorrow. Since I believe that edible insects are a source of revulsion to most Westerners (at least) today, I'm doubtful that they'll be mainstream tomorrow. There's a general principle of argumentation here: if you want me to believe your apodosis, make sure we're on the same page with your protasis.

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#59

Post by [deleted] »

Nursie wrote: post #24
Brakenshire wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just unfamiliarity - you would have the same reaction to a prawn if you hadn't grown up with it. And many outsiders would have a similar reaction to squid cooked in its ink (Spain), half-rotted herring (Scandinavia), or even just strongly flavoured blue cheese (everywhere). For that matter, lots of people feel icky about fresh tomatoes. It's not likely to become something which is mainstream overnight, but there…

That's the thing though - it's been there for years (maybe not in the form of cricket flour), and it gets hyped every few months, yet AFAICT there's not been any indication of it being any more than a niche interest. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the sector is really growing this time...

[deleted]

Re: Edible insects are a novelty today, but they'll be mainstream tomorrow

#60

Post by robhack »

Am I the only one bothered by the sheer amount of killing this means? You might have to feed poultry 2lb to get 1lb of food, but you kill only one living creature. With insects, how many living creatures are you going to kill to get 1lb ? (even though that would only require 1lb of feeding). Yes I know, they are not conscious at the same level, and are killed in a way so that they don't suffer, but still.
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