WaPo: 2B People In The World Eat Bugs, It’s Time For Americans To Eat Bugs Too

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One of the most prominent US newspapers has again called for Americans to rely on bugs as a major food source, arguing that the shift to edible insects from beef, pork, and chicken will be good for the environment. Eating insects instead of livestock-based meats will “lighten environmental footprints,” the Washington Post said in an article published on Sunday. Farm-raised insects also yield protein more efficiently, the newspaper claimed. For instance, crickets are 12 times more efficient than cows in converting feed to edible weight.

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A quick Google search reveals that the Washington Post has been repeatedly hammering the topic since at least 2013, posting articles with such titles as ‘Why bugs must be a bigger part of the human food chain’ and ‘Why you can, should and probably will eat bugs’. A 2019 piece had a question as the title: ‘Would you eat insects to help save the planet?’

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“Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores. Recent years have seen numerous media stories extolling the virtues of insect-eating.”

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The Post is one of the leading media promoters of bugs as human food. The newspaper is owned by the founder of Amazon, billionaire Jeff Bezos, who has ties to the World Economic Forum, which has repeatedly touted eating bugs as a way to ease climate change.

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The goal is to make bug-eating the “new norm,” which will require programming Americans to get past their squeamishness about cockroaches and other six-legged sources of food. “Watching others may also help break down the barriers,” the Post said, adding that “resistance to insect-eating can be strong.” One possible solution might be to use celebrities to endorse edible bugs, the newspaper said.

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Salted ants. Ground crickets. Why you should try edible insects. November 27, 2022 at 7:02 a.m. EST

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On a clear August morning in southeastern Pennsylvania, more than a dozen adults and children stood in a park pavilion, listening to mealworms sizzling in a hot pan.

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“It kind of tastes like kettle corn!” says Adaline Welk, 6, of the mealworm she ate.

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Sanchez encourages people to eat insects, in part, to lighten environmental footprints. Farmed insects produce far less greenhouse gas and require much less land and water than conventional livestock. Insects also generate more biomass with less input. Crickets, for example, are 12 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into edible weight.

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Already, 2 billion people eat insects, according to one estimate — primarily in parts of Africa and Asia.

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“We repeatedly find that if you don’t see the insects, people are much more open to eating” them, says Ruby. Through an online questionnaire of 177 American adults, his team found that, on average, individuals were comfortable with the idea of eating cookies containing up to about 30 percent ground black soldier fly larvae added as a flour.

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“Most people don’t want to eat a cow that looks like a cow,” says Charles Wilson, founder of Cricket Flours based in Portland, Ore. Cricket Flours sells whole insects for snacking, but also brownie mix enriched with cricket powder (ground cricket), as well as pure cricket powder that customers can discretely incorporate into baked goods or protein shakes.

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Volunteers who saw ads picturing athletes such as Serena Williams and Roger Federer or actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Angelina Jolie said they were more willing to try the product than those who saw ads without celebrities. The findings suggest that marketers may not need to reinvent advertising to sell insects, says Spence.

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Hargol is working with processed meat producers in the United States, Canada and Asia to develop products like burgers, meatballs and sausage that will contain chicken, beef or other protein sources combined with ground grasshopper. “And then we can explain, because it is better for the environment, it is better for your health.”

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