Shona Wilkinson, fully qualified nutritional therapist, and Gillian Waddell, Managing Director of Fuel PR, ask:
Over two billion people eat insects (entomophagy) so why don’t we eat them in the UK?
Insects are healthy –
They may not look much but insects are incredibly healthy! They have a high protein content, high omega 3 content and rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre. Some insects are even as much as 80% protein by weight!
They could help the environment –
Each year around 70 million people are added to the world’s population. If growth continues we could reach a whopping 9 billion people by 2050! To feed them all we need to produce twice as much food as we currently do. We know that consuming insects as opposed to livestock is more environmentally friendly (they need less feed, land and water), so could insects be a possible solution?
How do they taste? –
Well, apparently they are surprisingly tasty! Ants are supposed to have a slight “minty” flavour. The most popular insects to eat are ants, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms and locusts. Most of the time they have flavour added to them as they are a bit bland. Grasshoppers roasted in chilli and garlic oil are a speciality.
We have already seen the start of entomophagy in the UK in the form of insect flour being added to snack bars so is this the start? I’m not sure if we are ready to snack on whole locusts quite yet but the majority of people seem happy enough to munch on a bar made with cricket flour. From a nutritionists point of view, they are incredibly healthy so why not?
Fancy a mealworm aperitif anyone?
For more information please contact Gillian Waddell at Fuel PR.