Stop Being Bugged by Eating Bugs!

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Don’t like the idea of eating bugs or just bugs in general? You’re not alone: a bit under three-quarters of the world’s population don’t eat bugs and around 25% of people have a fear of insects or entomophobia. However, bugs could be part of the solution to help fight both world hunger and climate change. People don’t realize how many bugs there are in the world: they outnumber us at 200 million insects for each human. Bugs aren’t as great of a finite source as crops or animals right now, because we’ve farmed them for hundreds of years and, unlike bugs, and they don’t populate as quickly. They also don’t require as much food as our animals do and they “produce 80 percent less methane than cattle, and need six times less feed”. There are millions of insects that could help us if we just fight past the thoughts of “ew slimy bugs” anytime we imagine eating them. 

Eating bugs really isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. When you think about eating bugs, do you imagine eating a dried cricket or a whole grub like in the Lion King? There are way more tame ways to eat bugs that you might not have even considered. Bugs can be used as an alternative to lots of foods as well, so that might be the best place to start. For example, cricket flour is a great substitute for normal flour if you’re allergic to gluten or just want to try something new. I tried cookies baked with the cricket flour and I could barely taste the difference. Another product you may not have expected: Bug Burgers. Bug burgers also consist of crickets, substituted from beef, which costs much less than harvesting cows. Crickets taste so similar to meat and even have 34% more protein than normal meat! Talk about a great way to bulk up for you bodybuilders and gym rats out there.

If you feel like you’ve gotten a hang of the substitutes or just want to be more daring, there are dried insects that go for relatively cheap. I suggest getting ones with seasoning or just adding them to your meals for some extra protein. Products like chocolate-covered super worms or flavored dried crickets are also just tasty for snacking on. You can also get bug mixes from brands like Erbies and the Newport Jerky Company which usually consist of mixed basic bugs or more exotic ones. There are also restaurants that serve bugs as dishes and they’re becoming more common everywhere in America. Places like The Black Ant restaurant in NYC and Don Bugito which owns a food truck serving up bugs.

I highly suggest getting seasoned bugs; they’re my personal favorite and you forget what you’re eating. There isn’t a really distinct taste of bugs compared to other foods and they’re just crunchy, so I recommend even trying just one to see what you think. The stigma behind eating bugs is really strong, but there are so many advantages to beginning to eat them from nutritional standpoints to environmental ones. There’s no shame in trying something new and without change, you can’t grow.