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: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:16AM (1 child)
nom, nom, nom...
(Score: 5, Funny) by driverless on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:02AM
If you're a Windows user you're already subsisting largely on bugs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:33AM (3 children)
I'd rather eat a bullet.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:43AM (1 child)
Don't forget to sterilise the bullet first otherwise you might get an infection.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Farkus888 on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:44AM
Use something jacketed to avoid lead poisoning as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:58PM
No need for that. The Eloi will eat the bugs, and us Morlocks will eat the Eloi. Nothing wrong with a little long pig.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:36AM
Better than the converse, which it has always been. Guinea Worm? Hook worm? Tape worm? Runaway1956 worm? Tsetse Fly? Maggots making America Grate again? Bot-fly larvae in your head! Oh My God! It's full of bugs! (no, not talking about Windows, well, just not right now.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:49AM (11 children)
properly mashed, since there is an ick-factor. but otherwise i see no reason to turn it down, once it's certified as safe.
it's obvious from the latest report https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48169783 [bbc.com] that either we learn to live sustainably or we're left without enough resources.
so the researcher is right: either we eat insects, or we die in global war over farmland.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:00AM (8 children)
The issue is population. Eating bugs just delays dealing with the issue, it does not solve it.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:01AM (3 children)
actually if you educate everyone and raise their standard of leaving the population problem is more or less solved because they have less kids.
eating bugs could push back the lack-of-food problems long enough for population growth to reach 0.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:08PM (1 child)
how the hell is this a troll?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:00PM
Because some cockbite decided to bite your cock.
Look, people, THIS is a troll post!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:33PM
People say "education", but it is not directly education, but rather the 2 following consequences:
1/ More years of schooling before "entering the adult world"
2/ Ability to get a job and earn decent money on her own
Both have the effect of delaying when a woman marries to start a family.
In Western societies, women may wait so long that they are borderline infertile when they decide to marry. Certainly they are old enough that there are less fertile years. Plus it is hard to be a careerwoman and
mother. It can be done, sure, but it's not easy. This will limit the number of children the woman wants (or feels able) to have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:46AM (2 children)
Eating bugs solves the knife issue though. Once everyone is subsisting on insects there will be no excuse for anyone to own a knife... then we can finally ban the godawful things.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:50PM (1 child)
Because nobody needs to chop onions, tomatoes, potatoes, celery, carrots, turnips, or any other vegetable before cooking?
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 17 2019, @12:01AM
Indeed. You can buy those things precut. There's no excuse to own a knife.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday May 16 2019, @02:31PM
Not quite - ethics and environmental impact are also major considerations. Insects are generally accepted to be far less aware and feeling (sentient) than mammals, poultry, or even fish, and so the ethical concerns of farming and eating them are far lower.
More practically, they're far more efficient at converting human-useless plant biomass into protein - at about 90% as compared to 10% for a cow or 30% for a pig (IIRC). There's also a lot less waste - only about 50% of a farm animal is actually edible, the rest being skin, bones, and offal, and they produce a prodigious stream of waste while alive, including a huge amount of greenhouse gasses. Insects can also be grown far more densely, and without antibiotics or hormones and their contingent health risks. And their metabolisms are sufficiently alien to our own that it's all but impossible for diseases to jump to our species - and farm animals living in close proximity to humans is the source of a huge percentage of new disease strains - the annual new species of influenza probably being the most well-known.
Even feeding the exact same population, if we can drastically reduce land usage while eliminating the dangers of heavy antibiotic usage, farm runoff, greenhouse gasses, inter-species disease hybridization, etc. that's a huge win for everyone.
The only potential down side is aesthetics - and that's a cultural thing. It wasn't that long ago that larger "bugs" such as shrimp, crabs, and lobster were considered unfit to eat in the Western world, now they've become delicacies. In cultures where eating insects is commonplace, many insects are similarly considered delicacies to be sought out, even when they're more expensive than beef or pork.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday May 16 2019, @02:43PM
As I recall there's actually a company out there already producing insect sausage, meatballs, etc. from insects. I think it was a couple years ago, so maybe they've gone under, or maybe they were actually an environmental PR firm with a proof-of-concept product - or maybe they just haven't gained enough traction to make it into the supermarkets yet.
At any rate, if you dig around you may actually be able to order yourself some insect sausages today.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:07PM
You are already eating insects, and worse, you just don't realize it.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/29133/what-defects-fda-allows-11-types-food [mentalfloss.com]
I've tried crickets, the ranch flavoring on them was enough that if they had been added to a "party mix" I wouldn't have even noticed. Even plain they had a neutral flavor that most people probably wouldn't notice with the right spice mix.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:05AM
Well at least humans are still around in these predictions.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:09AM (8 children)
I grew up on the coast with a diet mostly consisting of a shrimp, crab, lobster and whatever the hell else they put in ceviche. I love em, my kids love em too! I try to make sure we get some sort of insect in our diet at least 3 times a week.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @08:00AM (4 children)
Shrimp, crab, and lobster aren't insects.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:06AM (3 children)
Did the nomenclature change? I could have swore they were all arthropods. Quick someone update wikipedia! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:17AM
... all insects are arthropods, not all arthropods are insects.
"""Arthropods form the phylum Euarthropoda,[1][3] which includes insects, arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans."""
So if you are eating shrimp you are eating arthropods, but not insects.
I'm sure there are lots of edible insects but shrimp aren't insects.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:40AM (1 child)
Nice wikipedia article. Although insectum comprise a subset of arthropoda. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect [wikipedia.org]
I do get your meaning. Bugs, insects, anything in arthropoda is basically giving the same "ew gross reaction" and therefore must be the same thing. But a scorpion no matter how large is no substitute for a good lobster. Despite similar body plans they are not close kin. They are about as closely related as you are to a dolphin. http://arachnoboards.com/threads/how-closely-releted-are-scorpions-and-lobsters.89261/ [arachnoboards.com]
On another note, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Japanese_spider_crab.jpg [wikipedia.org] (Warning: NSFBBT (Not Safe Before Bed Time))
I have had Thanksgiving turkeys that were smaller than some crabs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab [wikipedia.org]
It would be nice to explore the idea of industrial farming of crustaceans especially those large enough to be a meal in and of themselves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:04AM
They farm yabbies* in Australia, but it is basically a niche market for up-market restaurants. Mostly we just catch and eat the wild ones.
The real problem with farming lobsters/crayfish is how slowly they grow. A crayfish weighing over a kilo or two might be 50 years old.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_yabby [wikipedia.org] (There's a fair bit of 'almost correct' info there, but if I bothered to fix it some wikihole would just revert it.)
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:43AM (1 child)
All of those are crustaceans, which is one type of arthropod; insects, arachnids, and myriapods are other types. So a lobster is no more an "insect" than a tarantula is.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:58AM
My problem with shrimp - all the way through grasshoppers - is cleaning out the digestive tract before consuming them.
Shrimp aren't too impossible to de-vein, most terrestrial bugs are much harder.
It is probably healthy to eat your food's poop, I'm just not into it myself.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Sourcery42 on Thursday May 16 2019, @12:53PM
Yeah, they're basically water insects, but they're big enough to remove the gut like we do with our terrestrial meat sources. While I haven't tried to de-vein a mealworm or a cricket, it seems like it would be substantially more difficult, and that's a big part of the yuck factor for moving to the land based variety of insects.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:12AM (17 children)
When you can make a bug taste and feel like a juicy ribeye or a crispy, flaky catfish fillet, I'll consider adding bugs to the menu. I can afford real meat just fine though and I'm not about to stop eating it to assuage anyone's hyperbolic guilt.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:18AM (2 children)
Poor TMB! No idea what Catfish eat, particularly in the part of the country he fishes for them in. Bugs would be a step up.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:33AM (1 child)
I know exactly what they eat. How do you think I get so many of them on a hook. As long as I don't have to eat it though, what do I care? It's not like a carbon atom from a dead possum's asshole is somehow forever tainted. Once it's been digested it's just another carbon atom.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:27PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:03AM (1 child)
I eat shrimp.
Notably, I do not eat shrimp heads or shells or gills. I do not eat the "vein", which is actually the shit-filled gut.
The trouble with "eat bugs" is that I'm expected to eat the entire bug. That is just not happening. I also don't eat the entire chicken, cow, scallop, crab, or shark. Hooves and teeth and especially shit are all not food.
Simply make a robot to extract meat, do nothing else (no filler, "broth", or spices), and I'll be happy. The robot could cut the leg joints off of a grasshopper, then use a blunt probe to push meat out of the largest segment. Feed the icky parts to pigs, chickens, fish, or whatever. Sell me the meat in a 5-pound package that looks like burger.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:07PM
>The robot could cut the leg joints...
Finally, a job I like!
>...off of a grasshopper
THAT'S NOT IN A SKYNET BOT'S JOB DESCRIPTION, HONEY.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:22AM (4 children)
Have you tasted them already or are you just refusing them on the basis of your bias? (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:32PM (3 children)
I used to own a motorcycle and wasn't a helmet type of guy, so I've munched a few million. Granted, they're probably at least somewhat more enjoyable when not consumed at speed.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:16PM (2 children)
Ahh, so you’ll eventually self-select out of the gene pool, excellent. Hold off on breeding for a while, it’ll cut into your helmet-less motorcycle riding time.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:39PM (1 child)
Weak and obvious. Do better.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:53PM
no u
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:53AM
My standards aren't even that high: when they can manage to make insects taste and feel as pleasant to eat as any of the meat varieties that are common in the USA, then I'll consider eating them.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:05PM (5 children)
Can I assume you also refuse to eat salads, nuts, brownies, pizza, lobster, etc. unless it can be made to taste like ribeye or catfish?
Personally I love meat, but I don't really care if they can make insects taste like it - only if they can make them taste *good*. Like veggie-burgers - until the Impossible Burger came along it was basically impossible to get a veggie-burger that tasted like meat - and it seemed like the general rule was the harder they tried, the less tasty it actually was. The really good veggie burgers are the ones that don't try to pretend to be meat, but instead embrace that they are a plant-based food that just happen to be eaten in a similar fashion.
We don't have to give up steaks and fish, we can get a whole lot of benefit if we just add tasty insects into the mix as a common alternative.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:40PM (4 children)
They're not looking for insects to be included with meat, they're looking to have them replace meat. So that's what I addressed.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:39PM (1 child)
And so they will - every time you eat fish, it replaces steak as your entree. Same thing with insects. Doesn't have to replace it all the time to do a whole lot of good.
Also, headline aside, the article says nothing whatsoever about replacing anything - just about getting people to eat insects on a regular basis.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 17 2019, @04:30AM
Go for it then. I'm going to be over here eating whatever the hell I want to. You sit over there and do the same.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:00PM (1 child)
As a fellow obligate carnivore, I think we should support these misguided millennial ecotards. The more of them that eat bugs, the less demand there is for rib steaks. Economics says this results in lower priced rib steaks. So win-win... we get cheaper real food, and the ecotards get to feel virtuous while they eat centipedes.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 17 2019, @04:29AM
You make a damned compelling argument.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:02AM (1 child)
We have to stop thinking mammalian variety [youtube.com] and start broadening our palates in our resourceful-immigrant dystopian predictions.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RamiK on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:26AM
Meanwhile in Cambodia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ehpyh9VPSA [youtube.com]
compiling...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:43AM
Bugs are bad for the health, ask any developer.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EJ on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:55AM (5 children)
Maybe people should just stop f*cking so much. [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Magic Oddball on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:56AM (2 children)
Nah, the f*cking part is fine; it's the byproduct of doing it without contraception that's the problem.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:09PM (1 child)
Developed countries already have a less-than-replacement birth rate. If that trend continues, too many people won't be a problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:04PM
President Trump (and a whole bunch of scared white people) would disagree with you.
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Thursday May 16 2019, @03:23PM
I'm happy to say that I'm doing my part in this!
Er... wait, no I'm not. :(
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:26PM
But a lot of people view this as a problem
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/05/15/2339220 [soylentnews.org] (Low USA birth rates)
Guess it depends on which article you read last whether it is a problem or actually desired
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:56AM (2 children)
TFS is ignoring a massive blocker - cost.
If one seeks to purchase edible insects, the cost is something crazy like £10 per 100 grams. That is about 10 times the cost of comparable mass of dried meat (e.g. pepperoni). For example
https://www.thailandunique.com/edible-insects-bugs [thailandunique.com]
> 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
So why do they cost such an insane amount of money?
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Thursday May 16 2019, @08:39AM
You haven't heard?
They're getting rare!
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-insect-populations-decline-scientists-are-trying-to-understand-why/?redirect=1 [scientificamerican.com]
Ok, that ones a bit too factual to be any fun for the joke....Trying again:
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/2/11/18220082/insects-extinction-bological-conservation [vox.com]
Yeah, apocalypse, that's the ticket to funny!
I suck at jokes...
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:34AM
Novelty factor, lack of competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:03AM (1 child)
Because in a few years you won't be able to afford beef. The Chinese will eat that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:35PM
It's a temporary problem. Because of the one child policy, they have a population bubble that will crash.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:40AM (4 children)
Seriously, do you eat? If you do, you already eat bugs, mouse turds, rat hair, fish pus pockets (not to be confused with hot pockets, which are their own style of gross) mold and a whole host of shit worse than insects. You just don't see it and it's not proclaimed on the packaging. Want to know how much is okay?
The FDA to the rescue.
:::Warning:::
Do not read before or after eating, before bed or before or after your morning coffee.[*]
https://www.fda.gov/food/ingredients-additives-gras-packaging-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/food-defect-levels-handbook#commodities [fda.gov]
Yeah, I still find the idea of a grasshopper sandwich to be gross. Even though far worse is probably present in every thing I eat.
Perhaps with the proper processing to mimic other foods, and you still get mouse turds, rat hairs and the rest, well, maybe not the fish pus pockets.
And eventually you will get products claiming to be 100% insect that are only actually 30% because that is human nature.
--------
[*] before that coffee was roasted it was allowed up to the following:
Coffee Beans, Green
Insect filth and insects
( MPM-V1)
Average 10% or more by count are insect-infested or insect-damaged
Note:
If live external infestation is present use the Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) titled " Food Storage and Warehousing-Adulteration-Filth" (CPG 580.100) in accordance with "Interpretation of Insect Filth" (CPG 555.600)
Mold
( MPM-V1)
Average of 10% or more beans by count are moldy
DEFECT SOURCE: Insect infested/damaged - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Mold - post harvest and/or processing infection
Significance: Aesthetic, Potential health hazard - mold may contain mycotoxin producing fungi
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:07AM (3 children)
REALLY don't look at the standards for chocolate.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:10PM (2 children)
No need to, the color gives it away.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Friday May 17 2019, @01:07AM (1 child)
What about White and Ruby Chocolate?
The colors hide the grossness much better....
Ruby Chocolate, the fourth kind of Chocolate..(there's a Close Encounters joke in there somewhere, I'm just not good enough to find it)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/ruby-chocolate-us-where-to-buy [foxbusiness.com]
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Friday May 17 2019, @04:26AM
A sufficiently repulsive theory about white chocolate is easy to construct so I will skip it.
Ruby chocolate is more interesting. You can tell it's ruby chocolate in easter eggs, because they feature the least surprise.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:12AM (3 children)
Get Dr Oz and Harpo and the Kardashians to eat them and push them and all the sheeple will want them.
I swear, Dr Oz could shit on camera and eat it, and everyone of them would want to do it too.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:30PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:21PM (1 child)
Yup! I usually say"Oprah could come out on stage, fart, and walk off and the 'audience' would clap like fiends". Audiences like those are just filled with brain dead idiots.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Friday May 17 2019, @12:57PM
Yup, you are right. The real reason she is rich is that she was a minority owned business that the rich funneled their stuff through because they weren't the right color to have her advantage. She literally made her money because of her color.
(Score: 2, Touché) by acid andy on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:36AM (6 children)
Yeah, newsflash, eating bits of mashed up corpse is disgusting. We're just brainwashed culturally to compartmentalize meat as being different from gory bits of death. If you kill an animal or insect and mash it up, of course it's going to be gross. Once you're cool with that, vegetarianism is the only palatable and delicious choice.
If you disagree then I humbly suggest you hunt, prepare and eat your food in a fair fight with your bare hands and no technology or tools. If you're still OK with it then, then the disgust factor isn't relevant to you. There are still ecological, philosophical and economic arguments in favor of going veggie where the resources are available, though.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @12:41PM
As long as you only eat stray and wild insects, then who cares. Same as china eating dogs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:18PM
You're projecting your own squeamishness onto everyone else.
I have no problem butchering meat and consider a fine cut of meat beautiful, not gross.
You are an anomaly in the history of the human species.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:49PM
I never understand this challenge.
Why are the animals allowed to use the benefits of their evolution (claws, speed, etc.) in a "fair fight" but humans aren't allowed to use the benefits or our evolution (our big brains).
Back on topic: I'll try eating just about anything, once. All they have to do is make it taste good.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:13PM
>If you disagree then I humbly suggest you hunt, prepare and eat your food in a fair fight with your bare hands.
Only when the boar, who incidentally ruins your whole vegetarian meal, fights the same way.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:49PM (1 child)
Huh? What does a "fair fight" have to do with disgust?
I have no problem slaughtering or butchering an animal. I'm not disgusted by it, and I actually agree with you that people who are need to understand where their food comes from. There are no "fingers" on chickens for example, nor does meat generally come in a nice packaged "boneless skinless" version on the animal. Also, I deplore the conditions on factory farms and have been trying to buy more meat from local farms where I know the animals are treated well.
But that has absolutely no relation to your challenge to fight animals with no tools and bare hands. I understand and respect your ethical choice not to eat animals, but your post is talking about two different issues.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Sunday June 02 2019, @03:28PM
I'll grant you that the "fair fight" point is only tangentially related to the one I made about disgust. I suppose I couldn't resist taking the opportunity to bring it up. The relation it does have is that if you have to hunt an animal yourself with your bare hands, you are likely to experience the process of its transition from a living being to a foodstuff far more vividly and in much greater and more prolonged detail than someone else handling that process entirely, isolating you completely from it, such that your food doesn't even look like an animal. If you had weapons or tools, again, these could allow you to shorten the experience and distance yourself from it somewhat. If the animal can harm you and you must confront its suffering directly, for some people that may cause a change in attitude. It's about breaking down cognitive dissonance. If you never had it to begin with, then I suppose this isn't applicable to you.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1) by Grey Area on Thursday May 16 2019, @11:45AM
"One of Life's Most Common Compounds Causes Allergic Inflammation" at
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2007/04/7228/one-lifes-most-common-compounds-causes-allergic-inflammation. [ucsf.edu]
"Entomophagy and allergies: a study of the prevalence of entomophagy and related allergies in a population living in North-Eastern Thailand" at
https://doi.org/10.1093/biohorizons/hzy003. [doi.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @12:32PM (1 child)
Bug or Feature sir?
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 16 2019, @09:14PM
Big bug macs for two. D'you want systemd with that?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:03PM
This is another one of those super rich machinations. Basically the plan is to automate everything, give some meager basic income that allows people to still buy their products and push everyone into high density housing. Then they take your car and substitute for fleets of autonomous vehicles you will rent. Final piece of the plan is feed everyone insects + other low cost/impact food.
The article is an early start to get people warmed up to the idea. Much like the green new deal talks about getting rid of private vehicles, rebuilding everyone's houses for the "environment" and cutting meat from your diet. Guess what, your single family house, not environmentally friendly and in many areas already unattainable for the average guy. You won't be able to to afford moving out to the countryside nor get there and probably won't receive the BI if you do. Mega city or starve.
You may thing these are just conspiratorial ramblings but if you look around you, these policies are being promoted by futurists, politicians and large multinational bodies. Considering the state of the world and the downward slide it certainly looks to be heading this way. How convenient for the zuckerbergs and bezos of the world.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:15PM (5 children)
People keep talking about overpopulation as the driver for these policies.
Well, in industrialized societies, THERE IS NO OVERPOPULATION, BUT A FALLING POPULATION.
It's the Third World which is overreproducing. Focus on solving the "problem" where there is one. First step: admit the truth.
America's population is fine and we export food. Americans don't need to eat fucking bugs. The people in Starvationland need to eat bugs... or whatever else they want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @02:00PM
Hint: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/quality-adjustment/home.htm [bls.gov]
Its just another way to hide inflation so everything the gov-corp owes that is inflation adjusted rises slower than actual inflation.First a steak became a burger, next a burger will be substituted with a buger.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:05PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 16 2019, @04:43PM
Probably a legit AC. We have a lot more of those than we have registered users.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @07:52PM (1 child)
Note to mods: parent comment is not a troll.
It is new information pertinent to the article.
Jesus, we have a mod label for posts that trigger you -- "Disagree" -- but you can't disagree with object facts, right, just get mad that someone brought them up, which I guess *is* considered a "Troll" by the reacting lizard brain.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 17 2019, @04:33AM
So you're saying we need a -0 REEEE mod?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 16 2019, @01:33PM (1 child)
...
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:55PM
Depends on the type of bug [wikipedia.org]. Certain varieties of locusts/grasshoppers are kosher, and they're becoming a very popular snack food in Israel.
(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.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday May 16 2019, @05:26PM (7 children)
I've eaten Crickets, ants, and Mealworms. I'm raising Hornworms now. These are a brilliant green herbivorous moth caterpillar that gets as big as your finger.
The former group all have chitin shells or exoskeletons, which can cause allergies in some people. They were palatable when cooked (breaded and fried, fried, and baked) but you have to manage the shells (e.g. grinding them) to make them a staple protein. I prefer a chunk of something I can stick a fork into, so that's why I'm playing with the latter now.
I intend to raise silkworms in the future, but I need a mulberry tree I can strip for leaves first. I moved away from my old one.
Why? Primarily, I'm food curious. I want to try something different.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday May 16 2019, @06:06PM
Someday I want to try them. Preferably before being forced into it Blade Runner 2049 style.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 16 2019, @10:33PM (5 children)
I grew mealworms for a while: baked some and ate some alive.
Baked, it's like popcorn. Alive, it is chew, chew, chew, chew, chew........it never seems to end, lol.
Growing mealworms takes more time than I have, though. Never got a large farm going. :(
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 17 2019, @04:37AM (4 children)
I catch fish with them. Fish are fun to catch and provide far more nutrients per worm than worms of any kind do. Unless you suck at fishing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday May 17 2019, @05:00PM (3 children)
I love fresh caught fish.
Used to catch perch when I was a kid and eat them for breakfast.
Mouth orgasm.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday May 18 2019, @02:31AM (2 children)
I used to grow those too, in an aquaponics system.
Here's a couple of hundred tilapia in my garage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRisPVav2BA [youtube.com]
I ate a lot of fish that year.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 18 2019, @02:57AM (1 child)
Is that tadpoles you're feeding them?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday May 18 2019, @02:14PM
No, that was a commercial catfish grower ration. It was their staple food, with plant material as a supplement.