Last Updated on September 27, 2019
The entomophagy narrative continues. A narrative that has been furiously promoted by the mainstream media in recent months is yet to subside.
This time a younger target audience is in the crosshairs–children.
What better way to change public consciousness than raising children within a narrative, rather than convincing adults into eating something considered deplorable?
Who wouldn’t want to sample some irresistible maggot patties, powdered crickets, or algae balls?
And that’s what appears to be happening–see for yourself.
Introducing the Bug Mac: play-on words–presumably for the legendary ‘Big Mac’–but, this time, with a meat replacement–bugs.
In a bizarre video, similar to a pretentious early 00’s music video, 3D printed toys are used to make eating bugs, algae, and ‘powder’ more appealing to children.
As part of a broader narrative to promote entomophagy to save the environment or to feed a world facing unprecedented population growth in the Third World, the video suggests, “we’ll have to start eating some things that will take some time getting used to.”
“the aim of this toy line, called “Play Food From The Future,” is to raise awareness about the fact that over the next decades we’ll have to teach our kids the importance of eating in a more sustainable way and reducing food waste.”
FAO data indicates that roughly one third of the food produced for human consumption every year—around 1.3 billion tonnes—is lost or wasted. For this reason, halving global food waste per capita by 2030 is amongst the targets of the UN’s Sustainable Developments Goals.
We also need to reduce meat consumption which is projected to double by 2050. As known, intensive animal farming has a heavy carbon footprint. Roughly 70% of the world’s soy production is fed to animals, leading to destructive consequences in terms of land abuse, deforestation, and waste of calories.
Adweek‘s headline: “3-D Printed Toys Imagine the Future of Food to Make Kids Receptive to Sustainable Ideas” with the eerily creepy subheading, “Hey kids, want an algae ball? Or a Bug Mac?” shows the construction of a narrative where, in order for food production to become more sustainable, people–Westerners–will have to make extreme dietary concessions.
In a previous article for National File concerning entomophagy, I concluded that:
At the end of the day, very few people would dream of willingly gorging on maggot hot dogs and an ice-cold reconstituted cockroach milk strawberry milkshake.
There is no public demand for this. These narratives are top-down, not bottom-up; but it still enters the public arena as a legitimate talking point, linked to trendy issues–climate change and population growth.