The art of eating insects

[Majed]

Humans have been eating insects for thousands of years. It is estimated that about 2 billion people worldwide consume insects as part of their diet. This is roughly 25% of the world’s population. Insects are also very nutritious and healthy, constituting, notably, a great source of protein and other nutrients. This thread is dedicated to the art of eating insects. 

 

[Jannes]

That would be interesting to analyze from an ethical point of view and to compare it to meat and other animal products.

Insects are a lot less sentient then mammals like cows so the life of a single insect might worth less then that of a single cow. But a cow has many kilograms of meat while an insect is light, so for one cow you would need to kill thousands of insects. But to feed a cow lots of crops need to be produced which kills many insects anyway while insects need less fuel. That is also good for the environment as a whole which saves lots of lives... 

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Looks like a pretty vegan friendly diet as well, even from a moral standpoint, after all, they don't feel pain do they? Seeing as they don't possess any nervous system. So it therefore must be the greatest meat replacement ever. So, happy eating! I bet yall taste buds must be salivating

[Basman]

Not being cute or charming is major factor for human moral attitudes towards eating insects not accounting for cultural attitudes.

Edited Saturday at 09:11 PM by Basman

[Basman]

Insects might be traditional to certain cultures but only to those within the global south. Insect products can't look like bugs if they are too appeal to a western market. That aspect of western culture isn't going to change any time soon. Turn those grubs into an amorphous dough-like meat and call it "protein starch" or something. Nobody wants a burger and you can see the outline of grubs in the patty. That's disgusting.

Being ecological is a bonus, not a selling point to the majority of costumers and it being made of bugs will easily turn people off. You can overcome that by marketing it as for example as a cheap protein source or as a delectable children's snack depending on how you package it. The bottom-line is that insect based products must provide a unique kind of value to the market independent of what it is made of, either by innovating with a well received food products or being a cheaper alternative that delivers a similar experience to the product it is undercutting.

[Lyubov]

No thank you 

[Emerald]

5 hours ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

Looks like a pretty vegan friendly diet as well, even from a moral standpoint, after all, they don't feel pain do they? Seeing as they don't possess any nervous system. So it therefore must be the greatest meat replacement ever. So, happy eating! I bet yall taste buds must be salivating

Insects are animals. So, it wouldn't be a Vegan-firendly option. But good news your you omnivores.  

[UnbornTao]

Just had a bowl of fried cockroaches for breakfast, with some coffee.

Mmm...

Edited yesterday at 12:09 PM by UnbornTao

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

52 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

Just had a bowl of fried cockroaches for breakfast, with some coffee.

Mmm...

Looks like the guy on your profile picture would agree with you

[UnbornTao]

1 minute ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

Looks like the guy on your profile picture would agree with you

Edited yesterday at 11:48 AM by UnbornTao

[Whitney Edwards]

Nope. Never. Yikes. 

[Sincerity]

I will embrace the bugs.

I think this is the future.

Edited yesterday at 12:09 PM by Sincerity

[Basman]

Insects have the same problem that a lot of vegan dishes have in that you need to eat proportionally more to reach the same nutritional level as an animal product (how many bugs is there in 100 grams of insect?). I see insect products most likely being incorporated as an ingredient and as a snack at best, but it probably won't replace steak.

Its not like we aren't already eating bugs. Honey is bee vomit and there is bugs in the flour of all the bread we eat. Shrimp and lobster is a close relative to land bugs. They are basically bugs of the sea. Its not a big deal if you don't notice that your toast has ground up meal worm in it.

[PurpleTree]

Tried it.

Didn’t like the taste at all.