A recent report from the United Nations-sponsored Forest and Agriculture Organization (FAO) states that bug eating could be an effective way to defeat global hunger and combat climate change. The report got a mixed reception from the press. For the most part, they, like many North Americans, regard insects as dirty, disease-ridden and gross. Although the report’s key findings made perfect sense, many reporters balked at the thought of making meals out of crickets, ants or grasshoppers. However, if you read the 180-plus pages of the FAO report (something I suspect many people have yet to do), you will be treated to a host of compelling reasons for why we should forego conventional sources of meat, such as pigs, cattle and poultry, and start dining on insects, spiders and other so-called “mini-livestock.” But let’s face it: I all said this 15 years ago, in the introductory chapter of my "Eat-a-Bug Cookbook: 33 Ways to Cook Grasshoppers, Ants, Water Bugs, Spiders, Centipedes, and Their Kin." I’ve restated the reasons for engaging in entomophagy (the technical term for bug-eating) and offered an additional batch of 9 recipes in my updated and expanded Eat-a-Bug Cookbook Revised. Here then, in a nutshell, are what I consider the main reasons for saying, “Bug appétit!” and joining the ranks of the world’s bug-eating people - and estimated 1.9 billion men, women and children, according to the FAO report.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 14:18:01 +0000
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