The BBC have been speculating on what our diet may consist of in a number of years, with species commonly thought of as pests such as wasps, locusts and caterpillars potentially featuring on commonly eaten diets 20 years from now.
Rising food prices, particularly with regards to meat, has meant that bugs are being carefully examined for their nutritional content. Caterpillars contain more protein than minced beef and over 10 times more iron. Grasshoppers contain a lot of calcium and again more iron than minced beef, whereas dung beetles are also a good source of protein, with twice as much iron as their bovine counterparts.
Far from simply conjuring up images of “Bushtucker trials” for C list celebrities, the government in Holland have invested one million euros recently on researching this field. They have also been experimenting with lab grown meat. Other research being worked on include looking at algae as a possible solution for world food shortages.
Wasps are currently a delicacy in Japan, locusts and caterpillars are popular in Africa and crickets are often consumed in Thailand. To encourage the practice of eating insects and to lose the stigma attached to this in Europe and North America, it is being suggested that the term ‘mini-livestock’ will be used instead of the phrase insect.
It is believed that locusts would be ground down and used in sausages or burgers to make them more palatable to us Western Europeans.
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