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Consuming insects is already an everyday practice for two billion people worldwide, largely in the global east and south. Rearing them uses less land, energy, water and produces fewer greenhouse gases than traditional meats like chicken and beef, and more of their body is digestible (80-100 percent, compared to only 40 percent for beef).
They are also better for us: they are rich in protein, fat, and energy and can be a significant source of vitamins and minerals. But the Western world has still not embraced this wonder food.
Researchers think they know why: the 'disgust' factor. Insects are gross. The more interesting question is: given the enormous benefits, how can we convince people to get over the grossness?
The article argues that eating sushi and lobster was once considered disgusting, too.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday May 16 2019, @02:22PM (5 children)
Something I can't understand, amid all this talk about climate change and agriculture and consumption of insects, is why nobody proposes eating the edibles that grow all around us, everywhere, all the time. People can buy a bundle of dandelion greens at the corner market, but suggest they pick them wild and eat them for free and they look at you like you have three heads. The Indians cultivated ragweed as a food crop, milling the seeds into what is said to be a very nutritious flour, but modern Americans gasp at the idea.
Those are only a couple examples. There are thousands of videos on YouTube that talk about how to identify and prepare wild edibles, but despite that none of it penetrates the popular imagination. There are tens of thousands of homeless on the West Coast alone, and all kinds of people fretting about the impact of climate change on food production (remember the concern about the corn crop talked about last week that might have been devastated because of the climate-change induced flooding?), and others who wax on about the dangers of corporate agriculture and monocultures, but nobody talks about stooping down, gathering a handful of purslane, and making a delicious salad.
I dunno. For me, it brings great peace of mind to know that no matter what happens in life, no matter how broke I might be, no matter where I might find myself, that I will never starve. If you think about it, that's our great birthright as inhabitants of Earth. How did we ever let them take that away from us?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:27PM
Because the weeds haven't been domesticated.
We can't grow them nearly as efficiently as food crops.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:57PM (3 children)
Why don't people gather their own dandelions? I don't know -- maybe because police will potentially taser you for it, even if you're a harmless old lady [cnn.com].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @02:16AM (2 children)
Terrible example.
The cops went out of their way to deal with this woman in a safe manner for everyone, but:
"The daughter-in-law also said Al-Bishara has dementia and speaks Arabic."
And she walked toward the cops with the knife and wouldn't put it down despite pantomime the cop did with his own pocket knife.
What did you honestly expect them to do, let a woman who is out of it wander the neighborhood carrying a knife? That would have been irresponsible on their part. Tasering is the gentlest way of stopping her, much better than tackling an old woman.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 17 2019, @04:35AM (1 child)
Yes. Unless she's breaking a law, it's absolutely no business of theirs. The enforcement of laws is the only authority the police have.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @01:02PM
Buzz, cops are called to deal with crazy people all the time in the interests of public safety.