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from the chocolate-covered-grasshoppers dept.
A Los Angeles Times article reports on aspects of the current state of insects as food in the US. Apparently the trend is increasing. The article focuses on a company that supplies mealworms and superworms.
Mealworms and superworms are rich in protein, amino acids and vitamins and minerals like potassium and iron. Plus, they have less fat and cholesterol than beef.
These and other insects are also considered an environmentally friendly source of protein because they can be raised on a fraction of the land and water required for traditional livestock, like cattle.
In case you are wondering:
Their flavor, when toasted, is often described as being nutty and crispy, akin to roasted pecans or fried pork rinds.
Mealworms and superworms are "two of the roughly 1,900 insect species that are good for people to eat, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization." Already about 2 billion people have insects as a staple in their diets (personal observation: a true "paleo-diet" would require them).
What are the environmental benefits?
Compared with cattle, cultivated insects emit far fewer greenhouse gases, require less water, can be grown in a smaller space, can eat foods like vegetable scraps that would otherwise be considered waste, and can grow more protein from less feed, according to the report. For instance, growing mealworms for food requires about one-tenth as much space as raising an equivalent amount of beef protein, the report says.
The benefits may not be as clear when compared with chicken:
A study published in 2015 in the scientific journal PLOS One found that crickets raised on poultry feed required nearly as much food as conventionally raised chickens per unit of protein produced. If crickets aren't able to convert feed into protein more efficiently than chickens, they really aren't that much more sustainable, the researchers concluded.
For those interested, you may want to read the report produced by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @04:16AM
Keep breeding fuckers and after you're reduced to eating bugs they'll suggest it would be a lot better for the environment to start eating each other. There is no ecological problem that is made BETTER by increasing the human population. Most ecological problems are eliminated with smaller human populations. It's pretty clear where the solution is. Every time you see someone gloat over their 3+ brats, you know who to blame for turning this world to shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @04:34AM
If you eat chicken, beef, or pork and not bugs, you are not being efficient and are thus helping to turn this world to shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:47AM
Because if you eat soy, salad and Himalayan salt it doesn't turn to shit? You just sweat the excrements out?
(Score: 1) by blackhawk on Saturday September 05 2015, @03:33PM
It's time to combine two good old ideas to save our future. At the age of 30, everyone should go to Carousel and after a funky light show and some pyrotechnics be sent to Resyk for conversion into Soylent Green. Come to think of it...there was a robot in Logan's Run who'd made a fine start on that path for them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:29PM
Every time you see someone gloat over their 3+ brats, you know who to blame for turning this world to shit.
Yeah that's why it's mostly not gay couples who are/would be responsible for screwing up the world. It's the fault of straight people (or straight people who forced gay people to pretend to be straight and have children).
Well of course in the past when humans were few in number, too many gay couples might have been a problem, but nowadays they're actually helpful in the long run.
More so the slashdot/soylent basement virgins ;).
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Monday September 14 2015, @08:18AM
I understand that each inter-continental flight consumes as much as basement dweller consumes over one year. And someone who takes inter-continental flights and has one or more children will consume unlimited resources compared to a basement dweller due to all of the resources consumed by descendants.
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