The world in a box? Food security, edible insects, and “One World, One Health” collaboration
This paper shows how the contingency of edibility complicates existing scientific models of travel that posit that singular objects spread peripherally outwards from a center into a globally connected, singular world.
Scientists in the Netherlands are cultivating edible insects to address concerns of international food security. Committed to the One World, One Health (OWOH) movement, their research aims to create a safe and effective global solution to the conjoined problems of climate change and an increasing worldwide demand for protein.
Their preliminary work is promising, as it suggests that when compared to other sources of meat, insects can be an efficient, safe, and low-impact source of nutrients. Additionally, in many sites with endemic malnutrition, people find insects tasty. The problem these scientists are grappling with, however, is that insects that are easily mass-produced are not the insects people typically want to eat.
Social Science & Medicine
17 June 2014