Entomophagy

Entomophagy, the act of humans intentionally eating insects, has been practiced by people throughout all ages of human history. However, in the modern world, especially in the United States, this practice has faded away in most peoples' minds. With no reason to have to eat them plus the gross factor of thinking about chewing insects, humans have forgotten all about the benefits of eating these tiny creatures. Truth is you actually eat a significant amount per year unintentionally. Does this gross you out or are you open to having insects in your diet?

Personally, when I hear that I have consumed thousands of insect parts per year in my typical diet it doesn't really bother me that much because there is no way for me to prevent it. I can't even remember a time of when I have ever had an insect in my mouth. For all I know, the fact that I have eaten insects unintentionally could be a big lie to gross me out and I wouldn't know the difference.

On the other hand, I have heard about other people intentionally eating insects as a source of food (not just because their friend dared them). I have never eaten a cricket, ant, grasshopper, meal worm, or caterpillar but I have heard of these being "good" based on the taste of others. For me to eat an insect, I actually don't think it would take much. I never had a need to do so in the past, but if it was already dead and not harmful to my body then I'd be open to eating insects. Depending on how they tasted to me, I would even be open to trying the drastic switch over to insects as my main source of dietary protein.

Switching over to an "insect only" diet would be pretty intense if I had to do it right now, but there are definitely many sellers already out there on the web. If you go to http://www.thailandunique.com/ you can buy anything from scorpions and beetles to BBQ four bug kebabs, and if you like meal worms then I guess you could always turn to www.petco.com as a last resort.

                                           
                BBQ Four Bug Kebab                                              Meal Worms

There are even some companies/organizations that believe insects are the future to solving global food security. With the population of our world rising and food production needing to increase by 70% by 2050 according to the FAO, insects might be the answer to the problems of the future. I sure hope they taste good!


                                                      

Information found from:
http://www.thailandunique.com/
www.petco.com
http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Insects-to-feed-the-world.htm

Pictures found from:
http://www.thailandunique.com/
operationmigration.org
http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Insects-to-feed-the-world.htm