Why do people eat insects?
All over the world, there are delicacies made from insects. Yet, for most of us, eating one seems unimaginable. So why do people eat insects?
By Anne Sun
Some of the world’s weirdest dishes are made of insects. Maggot cheese, ginger cricket cookies, insect ramen are all a part of this weird insect cuisine from around the world. They’re tiny icky-looking creatures, but there are still many people who pay high prices to eat these dishes. What exactly about insects make them so alluring to gourmet seekers?
Insects are highly nutritious
Yes, this is extremely unexpected. How could these tiny creepy crawlies be nutritious? As little as most of us want to admit, creepy crawlies may actually be more nutritious than other meats such as beef or pork. Insects contain as much as three times the amount of protein of steak and are also abundant in healthy fats, iron, and calcium.
Insects are more eco-friendly
Cows are one of the biggest contributors to methane gas emissions. We farm lots of cows, which then poop and release methane gas. Not only is this process not eco-friendly, but alot of time, space, and money are also needed in order to farm these cows. Now, think about insects, which breed fast, grow fast and die fast. They consume less food, less water and produce less waste. Not only that, but a larger percentage of bugs are edible when compared to typical farm animals. The total percentage of edible bugs is 80% compared to 55% of chickens and 40% of cows and pigs. Instead of eating our typical meats, we could change to a more eco-friendly solution: insects.
Insects taste a lot better than we expect
At first, this seems like a bold claim. When I hear the word insect, I imagine the taste to be bitter. After all, insects look gross so they must taste gross right? Well, that’s not actually true. First, a disclaimer: of course not all insects taste the same. There’s a large variety of insects out there, just like there’s a large variety of animals. You can’t expect all insects to taste the same, just like how you can’t expect beef and chicken to taste the same. Second, people still eat insects up to this day, probably because they don’t actually taste as bad as you think. Most people who eat insects describe the taste as “nutty”. In general, bugs have mild, crunchy, and shrimp-like tastes.
Conclusion
Eating insects is more common than one would expect. Even though it sounds weird right now, everything is considered weird before it’s considered normal. The reason why people eat these nasty little creatures is actually that it has some amazing benefits that we never expected. Give these insects a try and maybe you’ll fall in love too!