Entomophagy notes

What is entomophagy

the practice of humans eating insects for food

What is the percentage of people in the world who eat insects

80%

what is the percentage of people in the world who don’t eat insects

20%. We are in this percentage

why do people typically eat insects

They are eaten for nutrition

What tells us that eating insects go back in history for quite some time

paintings of people eating insects,

mentioned in the Bible

Greeks, Romans, Aristotle, Moses, John the Baptist were all people who ate insects

why were insects bred

to make more appealing

what are the benefits of eating insects

good source of protein, vitamins, fats, minerals, zinc, b vitamins, and they release a chemical that is also released when eating turkey—dopamine

what do insects contain that is often missing in actual food

lysine. Insects also have unsaturated fat which gives your body energy

Insect calorie intake—how is it beneficial

high calories, fuller longer, need less to eat

insect calories are higher than what

Beef corn, wheat, and soybeans

The insects are termites, beetle grubs, and caterpillars

what insects have the same level of protein

Caterpillars, lean ground beef, and fish.

caterpillar benefits

Higher protein levels, b vitamins, better fats, and are easy to breed

Negatives Americans see to eating insects

carry diseases and are unsafe to eat(poisonous)

Negatives Americans ignore about animals

animals can also carry diseases and bright colored, hairy, and sharp animals can be poisonous

Historical reasons people look down upon insects

natives were seen as uncivilized when they were seen eating insects

What’s ironic about Americans not wanting to eat insects

some insects are related to the seafood they eat

Insects are more clean internally than sea creatures. Sea creatures eat decaying things, insects eat plants

potential disadvantages of entomophagy

pesticides—insects that survive intake/absorb the pesticide through their cuticle

Just because we don’t eat insects as they are doesn’t mean what

that we don’t intake insects in our foods

what do cochineal insects do

produce a magenta/red dye

what is the shiny coating on some candies

shellac from insects. May say “carmine” or “confectioners glare”

how do bees pollinate

throw up nectar to each other until it makes honey

how are insects good for the environment

Require resources. Less food for feeding insects. Less water than animals and less energy to keep their bodies warm. Produce a lot of insects in a short amount of time. Release way less greenhouse gas. Energy ratio 19-31>10. Insects can also be eaten in different stages

Insect vs animal energy input ratio

4:1 vs 54:1

Some of the 1,900 different species that can be eaten

over 200 species of butterflies and moths not eaten as adults

Over 300 species of edible beetles

Over 300 species of wasps, ants, and bees

Over 200 species of grasshoppers and crickets

mexico and Columbia dishes

mex: 1700 species—chapulines, cicadas, flies

Col: beetle palm grubs, caterpillars

africa dishes

85% eat caterpillars, 70% of the Congo, 91% in Botswana

Papua New Guinea and New Guinea

important

Papua—palm grubs

New Guinea—grasshoppers and they strongly prefer winged female termites

Australia dishes

they’re working to put insects into people’s diets

Eat black honey ants that are like boba when eaten due to the collection of nectar in their abdomen

what are Dutch scientists working on

they’re taking insect cells where the protein is and are trying to create and distribute those cells into food we already eat