• Creepy Crawly Cuisine: Are edible insects on the menu for the UK?

    • In the past year, we have seen a huge rise in popularity of edible insect based foods here in the UK. People have been consuming insects as food for thousands of years in other countries such as Mexico and the Philippines (it is estimated the over 2 billion people in the world eat insects on a regular basis).

      It seems that we are now starting to catch on and the availability of edible insect products has increased dramatically. Although yet to be seen in your local Tesco, you can buy energy bars, cricket flour for baking, whole crickets, mealworms, ants and even scorpions quite easily online and in a variety of flavours including salt & vinegar and cheese & onion!

      The eating

      The technical term for eating insects is entomophagy and one question that everyone will have when considering edible insects is ‘What do they taste like?’

      Crickets and similar insects are claimed to have a ‘nutty’ flavour and are generally roasted or fried and Sago Grubs, generally roasted, supposedly taste like bacon. Insects take on the flavour very well of what they are either cooked in or fed in their diet which means huge potential of product lines being developed for use in a wide range of dishes both sweet and savoury.

      The benefits

      Insects are also considered highly nutritional and according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization, they are high in vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein; in fact, insects contain roughly 50% of the protein value (12.9g) per 100g compared to chicken or beef (25g).

      The traditional meat protein sources we consume in the UK such as chicken, beef and pork have a huge carbon footprint and high methane emissions compared to that of raising edible insects, as insects require a lot less care, food, water and space than livestock. Insects are much more efficient at converting feed to body weight than conventional livestock and also reproduce much faster!

      The future

      Using insects as a valuable inexpensive and sustainable food source may be the answer to solving world hunger and feeding the ever-growing population which is expected in be 9 billion people by 2050.

      Innovation into mass-rearing systems has begun in many countries, although the FAO have urged that research into industrial scale production is a priority and want further investigation into associated food safety, health and environmental issues such as disease management and developing standards for each insect species.

      Overall, it seems that edible insects really could be the future of our food and what some may now consider a bit unappetising, could become just as mainstream as your favourite packet of Walkers!

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