EXPLAINER
Eating insects may be healthier, cheaper and better for the environment than consuming meat – what’s not to like?
The Singapore Food Agency announced last month that it has approved 16 insect species as fit for human consumption.
The agency has permitted some species of beetle, locusts, grasshoppers and mealworms to be sold as food. These insects cannot simply be harvested from the wild. They must be “farmed in premises regulated by the Competent Authority”, according to the agency.
While entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, in many parts of the world remains gastronomic esotericism, Singapore is one of several countries that have begun to welcome it.
Indeed, in some parts of the world, insects are served up as popular street food. But do we all need to be switching our diets to include insects?
Why should we eat insects?
Some of the arguments for eating insects include:
- They are environmentally more sustainable and cheaper to produce than beef.
- They are higher in protein and other nutrients than meat.
- They can be farmed without hormones.
- They may be a solution to a food-insecure, overharvested, overfished world.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 60 percent of fish stocks worldwide are overfished.
Climate change is shifting our relationship with food and many believe insects are a viable, environmentally sustainable protein alternative to meat, given the high carbon footprint of livestock farming, which some peer-reviewed journals estimate produces 14.5 percent to 19.6 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2022, the World Economic Forum published a report incentivising eating bugs, citing climate change and the high protein content of insects as reasons.
But already in 2013, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization had proposed entomophagy as a solution to food insecurity.
Is eating insects healthy?
It might bug you to know this, but, yes, in certain circumstances.
Different types of insects contain different amounts of nutrients, but they tend to be dense in protein, iron and calcium among other nutrients.
MightyCricket, a US-based website that sells cricket powder, says crickets contain 10 times more vitamin B12 than beef.
The Canada-based sports nutrition business Naak says 100g (3.5oz) of chopped beef steak contains about 20g of protein compared with 60g of protein that 100 grams of cricket steak contains.
Is eating insects good for the environment?
A big reason for the rise in sentiment in favour of eating insects is down to the significantly low environmental footprint insects have.
The production of meat and dairy products accounts for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an FAO report.
MightyCricket’s website says crickets use 50 to 90 percent less land per kilogramme of protein than conventional livestock.
According to the 2013 FAO report, producing 100g of beef steak creates 750g of greenhouse gases emissions. To produce 100g of crickets, the amount of emissions is estimated to be 100 times less.
Where in the world are insects commonly eaten?
The FAO data published in 2013 estimated two billion people consume insects globally.
While this number is often cited, an editorial in the Journal of Insects as Food and Feed said in 2021 that the number is an overstatement. Regardless, insects are an important part of a number of cuisines around the world:
- Silkworms are considered a delicacy in some northeastern states of India. In Nagaland, a state on the Myanmar border, silkworms are available at every market. Known as “eri puka” in Nagamese, the silkworms are fried, tossed together with spices, vegetables and bamboo shoots. Crispy fried grasshopper is also a common snack in the state.
- Sago grubs, also called butod, are a traditional delicacy on the island of Borneo. They are eaten as appetisers, such as satay, or can be stir-fried.
- Nsenene, long-horned grasshoppers, are a popular snack in Uganda and are sold by street vendors or cooked at home. These insects are usually fried with chilli, onion and spices. Because they secrete their own oil, there is no need for cooking oil.
- Tacoma worms are a delicacy among the Indigenous Arawak community in Pakuri, Guyana. They can be eaten raw, sauteed, or skewered and roasted and are described as “buttery” and highly nutritious. They are enjoyed at special events.
- In Marondera, Zimbabwe, villagers have been eating insects and worms foraged in the forest or collected during crop harvests for generations. Now, the village boasts its own edible-insect farm.
Who in the West is eating insects?
While insects are already widely eaten in some countries around the world, they have never been a favourite among gourmets in the West. Despite this, some upscale restaurants are featuring insects on the menu:
- French chef Laurent Yenet plates an intricately crafted seven-course gourmet meal at his Paris restaurant Inoveat. He pairs insect meat with zesty citrus and herby, floral garnishes. Superfoods such as spirulina and pollen also feature.
- Grub Kitchen in Wales, the United Kingdom’s first insect restaurant, focuses on sustainability and is the vision of chef Andy Holcroft. The menu ranges from minced insect Bolognese to mealworm hummus and mixed insect pakoras fried with vegetables and served with mango chutney. Grub Kitchen largely has good reviews on TripAdvisor, but one reviewer was sceptical of eating insects, writing: “If this is the future, kill me now.”
Why don’t we eat insects more widely?
The question of why people are put off by the idea of feasting on bugs opens several cans of worms:
- The “yuck” factor: For some, the aversion to eating insects simply comes from being conditioned to seeing insects are creepy, dirt-lurking creatures and definitely not food.
- Religious reasons: For some religious communities, eating insects is a no-go. For example, a large number of India’s vegetarians follow the Jain faith, which is centred on nonviolence to the extent that it forbids eating root vegetables because their harvesting kills the plant and insects close to it. For Muslims, opinion is divided. While some schools of thought believe all insects are forbidden, others permit eating specific locusts as long has they have not been raised in “dirty” environments.
- Ethical reasons: The dilemma of whether to eat insects has made its rounds on forums for vegetarians and vegans online, and while some have said they would give insects a shot over beef or chicken, some are not open to the idea because they do not want to eat living beings.
