Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects?

[pokerfan]

Marcel Dicke makes an appetizing case for adding insects to everyone's diet. His message to squeamish chefs and foodies: delicacies like locusts and caterpillars compete with meat in flavor, nutrition and eco-friendliness.

Marcel Dicke is an ecologist with a special interest in the relation between plants and insects. He is a recipient of the NWO-Spinoza award, also known as the Dutch Nobel prize. The central theme in his research is the way that plants define the lives of insects. In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he explains why we should all eat insects! His surprising talk was followed by the serving of some delicious snacks…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6GimGZz6a8

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. If he really wants to do that, he should get entrepreneurial about it.

Serving up BBQ cockroach on a stick isn't going to make anyone really feel comfortable with the idea.

Instead, take a page from the soy manufacturers and/or the vegans - make banana slug burgers and earthworm nuggets. Put it in a form familiar with people from western cultures and make it less about what the food actually is and more about the flavor and nutrition.

[struggle4progress]

10. Coat with corn batter, stick on a stick, deep fat fry, and sell for $6 at State Fair

It's America! Everybody loves deep-fat fried stuff on a stick!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

11. That wouldn't hurt.

I didn't quite mean to be that critical or cynical though. Boca Burgers are more of what I had in mind.

[Warpy]

2. Lots of cultures do, especially in Asia where protein is expensive

I've had fried grasshopper. It's not bad.

[qazplm]

5. and if protein were cheap

folks in Asia wouldn't be eating a lot of insects.

There's a reason why most people don't eat them unless they don't have much of a choice.

[Warpy]

6. Asia has gotten quite prosperous, in case you haven't noticed

and stalls selling snacks like fried silkworm grubs still do a brisk business. Shoot, they sell those things in cans at the local international grocery right here in cowboy country.

Poor people's food becomes a great delicacy when those poor people don't have to eat it any more. I'm sure you've noticed that if you want to dine on offal in the US, you have to dine in an overpriced, chichi restaurant.

[qazplm]

Asia

has gross inequalities worse than we do.

Still millions of people who can't afford to eat whatever they want.

And they sell anything here, that says little.

[TheMadMonk]

17. Mayte. Those doing the eating are not all poor. Many are the...

...folk on their ascent to nouveax richness. Culture has as much to do with it as poverty. You might note that a cricket in a cage the size of a baseball, would be considered a piss poor choice of pet to most Westerners. Not necessarily so for a top Japanese executive who could afford to keep a pair of Siberian Tigers on even Japanese soil.

I suspect any feeding of insects to most Westerners in the near future will be second hand in the form of stock feed suplements. Unless someone wants to drop half a million or so on a Jackass themed restraunt serving "The World's Grossest Dishes" and hope a lot of macho types go, "Hey, that's not half bad."

[qazplm]

Asia

has gross inequalities worse than we do.

Still millions of people who can't afford to eat whatever they want.

And they sell anything here, that says little.

[qazplm]

14. Asia

has gross inequalities worse than we do.

Still millions of people who can't afford to eat whatever they want.

And they sell anything here, that says little.

[Ian David]

3. I think the only insect I could eat would be scorpions.

Because they look like-- and are related to-- lobsters.

And maybe ants and termites, because they're really small.

[InvisibleTouch]

4. Lobsters are crustaceans, scorpions are arachnids.

Not really that closely related. But scorpions are delicacies among baboons, so they're certainly edible for primates.

I don't know that I'd eat them, because I really like scorpions. I think the only animals I wouldn't eat are those to whom I have a major emotional attachment (dogs, reptiles, scorpions). Theoretically I'm not averse to eating insects, if someone could convince me that the taste and texture wasn't disgusting.

On edit: wouldn't eat large predatory mammals either (big cats, bears, etc.), or anything endangered.

[laconicsax]

8. Actually, insects are crustaceans.

In the same sense that birds are dinosaurs.

http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/insects-are-crustaceans-2/

[Ganja Ninja]

7. It's cuisine for the new American economy. n/t

[EmilyKent]

9. Instead we westerners eat raw fish eggs,

sweetbreads, prairie oysters, head cheese, blood pudding, pickled pig's feet, and snails.

[krispos42]

12. Because there's bacon! n/t

[laconicsax]

13. +1

[txlibdem]

15. Is there a list somewhere of exactly *what* you can eat and how to cook it?

As a part-time survivalist I'd be interested in learning what insects or small critters to avoid, which are ok to eat and of those how to cook them.

Anyone know of a link???

[salvorhardin]

16. There are whole blogs devoted to the topic

Just google 'edible insects recipes' and you'll find a ton of sites. You might also want to buy a copy of this book used, or get it from your local library.

Creepy Crawly Cuisine: The Gourmet Guide to Edible Insects
http://www.amazon.com/Creepy-Crawly-Cuisine-Gourmet-Insects/dp/089281747X

[txlibdem]

18. Cool

Thank you!