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Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

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Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#71

Post by schwartzworld »

klodolph wrote: post #49
Double_a_92 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and much harder to raise at a reasonable quantity than cows and chickens. Doubt that. Livestock eats up much more energy than its meat gives back (i.e. you would have to feed 7kg of soy protein to get 1kg of meat protein). With insects such as Mealworms that's much easier. They basically eat anything and they turn it almost 1:1 into valuable protein. Also you can raise them pretty much everywhere, even in crammed i…

> With insects such as Mealworms that's much easier. They basically eat anything and they turn it almost 1:1 into valuable protein. I looked up the feed conversion ratio for mealworms, I found values around 5:1. This is comparable to beef. Chickens are much better, somewhere around 1.5:1. Some other insects are better or worse in terms of FCR. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4689427/

Yeah, but you can farm mealworms in a plastic bin in your apartment. They only eat dry grain and food scraps. They are practical on a small scale in a way that chickens can never be.

Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#72

Post by jacobolus »

remarkEon wrote: post #68
jacobolus wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many parts of the world where bugs are considered to appear and taste palatable. Some are delicacies. The idea that all bugs are gross is largely due to unfamiliarity. Most unfamiliar foods are considered gross the first time someone tries them (as anyone with kids can attest). With that said, some of the large ants commonly eaten in southern Mexico are extremely bitter. Not my favorite for sure.

>The idea that all bugs are gross is largely due to unfamiliarity. I'm really, really skeptical of this idea. One of the most interesting phobias is Trypophobia, fear of irregular patterns or of small holes/bumps. It's not really a fear, ... but more of an evolutionary response. Humans are good at recognizing patterns and irregular holes/bumps tend to mean disease or "something gross and dangerous probably laid eggs…

Ants, termites, wasps, bees, cicadas, grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, beetle larvae, moth larvae, caterpillars, ... have a very wide range of appearances, textures, flavors, habitats, diets, ....

I don’t see why Trypophobia would have anything to do with a fear of eating insects rather than, say, honey, pomegranates, sunflower seeds, or strawberries.

There are many things commonly eaten in e.g. the USA which are considered disgusting by some people in other countries. Fermented cabbage, non-dairy “cheese” product, twinkies, weird stuff made out of jello or marshmallows, deep-fried butter, wonder bread, raw kale, ...

There are also many foods eaten in other parts of the world which don’t look weird and have nothing to do with bugs but most e.g. Americans refuse to eat for no apparent reason.

Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#73

Post by beatgammit »

justinator wrote: post #57
dagw wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

we should all eat whale, since they're related to deer. The main reason we don't eat whale is that they're going extinct in the wild and are impossible to farm (neither which are true about insects). Before we realized that large scale whaling was a bad idea we ate a lot more whale.

In Western Civ., was whale eaten, or was whale used primarily for it's whale oil? In places where it is/was eaten does that happen sustainably? (Japan excluded...)

Not exactly "Western" Civ, but Native American tribes along the west coast would hunt whales, and the Makah are still allowed to on the grounds that it's a tradition, though that's obviously limited by necessity due to whale populations (I think the can only take one each year).

I think that's a pretty convincing argument that people considered whales to be food for some time.

Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#74

Post by beatgammit »

tropo wrote: post #65
Retra wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were 1000x the size of a cow, you probably could (and would) eat it whole, as your teeth would mash through bone and skin without a problem.

I could, but I wouldn't, because those parts taste bad. The poop is particularly awful.

The are a lot of things that people eat whole, such as sardines, anchovies, and other small fish. Some cultures even use bile as a flavoring (see Papaitan from the Philippines), and others eat bugs (crickets and grasshoppers are very popular).

Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#75

Post by miluge »

sametmax wrote: post #23
kokokokoko wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I encourage you to research what percentage of bugs are actually edible and a reasonable source of protein in northern climates. And then research the eating habits in regions where the percentage of edible and protein rich insects is significantly higher. Within there, I imagine you will find an answer.

Also, insect are hard to find in the winter, and much harder to raise at a reasonable quantity than cows and chickens. And if your 1000 sheeps escape in the wild, you have a chance to get some back, and you will be able to protect you fields against them. It's practical. Plusyou don't have to care about venom when cookinh lamb.

My ex roomate was growing mealworms for his iguana and we even ate them.

Raising it was super hard, it was in a plastic box with a few lights, fed our food waste and kept in a closet.

The trick is to get people to eat them, I tried and it was tasting like chips but I wasn't too hard to convince, my girlfriend on the other end couldnt even look at them...We managed to sneak some one day and she liked it but lost any trust in the food my roomate or myself cooked.

Re: Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs? (2018)

#76

Post by tropo »

beatgammit wrote: post #74
tropo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could, but I wouldn't, because those parts taste bad. The poop is particularly awful.

The are a lot of things that people eat whole, such as sardines, anchovies, and other small fish. Some cultures even use bile as a flavoring (see Papaitan from the Philippines), and others eat bugs (crickets and grasshoppers are very popular).

In the USA we don't do that.

Our sardines and anchovies have the head and guts removed, and probably the tail. We do sometimes eat skin and bones. The same goes for canned salmon and herring.

We also peel, decapitate, and gut our shrimp. This is probably a better comparison because the exoskeleton is similar.

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