Dutch scientist wants bugs added to Western diets

EEEK! There's some ham in my roach salad!

reply to post by Navieko


Lol. Did you decide other people than "americans" are fat?

Originally posted by MzMorbid
Lol. Did you decide other people than "americans" are fat?

Actually it was the responses that I thought were 'typical' of Americans, and still do, but then I realized nowadays pretty much all western countries have so successfully adopted the American mindset and way of life, that it's sadly become the typical response to expect from any westerner.

reply to post by q_ball

Dutch scientist wants bugs added to Western diets

reply to post by Wyn Hawks


I was thinking the same thing. I've read that humans eat an average of 40 pounds of bug/bug parts during a lifetime.
It's mostly in canned goods, as your article has noted. Peanut butter is one of the major culprits, along with jellies and jams.

On another note, it is thought that when primates took the curve towards early man, was when they discovered insects were good to eat. It is thought that extra boost of protein from the insects contributed to the surge and development of the brain, and expedited evolution.

On a different note, I would never willingly and knowingly eat a bug. I'm sure it is a cultural bias, but I don't care. They aren't very appetizing and plus they are very small, unattractive, and not aromatic. Like pears. Or apples.

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
reply to post by Wyn Hawks

 

I would never willingly and knowingly eat a bug. I'm sure it is a cultural bias, but I don't care. They aren't very appetizing and plus they are very small, unattractive, and not aromatic. Like pears. Or apples.

...ahahahaaa!... i think ants and grasshoppers are cute but i dont wanna eat em... not even the chocolate covered ones... i've heard they're crunchy...

...when i was a kid, we had HUGE gatherings - potluck supper on the ground type of thing, usually outside of one of the family cemeteries (ah, the morbid factor, lol).. there were always tons of flies swarming around the food... all the ladies had those old-timey fans on a popsicle stick kind of thing to keep the flies moving... of course many landed and pooped or spit on the food but we ate it anyway... good times... makes me recall huckleberry pie with homemade ice cream - wish i had some right now...

...speaking of nasty thangs - a long time ago, i worked in a candy store and at first i thought "oh wow - this is too cool", until i found out that the storage room had rat poop in it and roaches and the health department never gave that store a bad rating... i NEVER ate anything from there (gag)...

...one more thing and i'll hush, lol - if you looked into the kitchens of most resturants, you wouldnt eat there unless you're totally not squeamish...

Originally posted by 547000

Originally posted by Xcathdra
reply to post by q_ball

 

Here is an idea... Lets use our farm land to its fullest extent, and make food free. We could feed the world and stupid ass claims like this can be filed in the trash where it belongs.

Wouldn't that just fuel population growth again, till we have to give up more to feed the higher population yet again ?

Yes and no... Feeding the world, allowing them to focus on other things like education, infrastructure improvements etc, could lead to a healthy population that is capable of improving itself to the point of balancing any population explosion that could result.

Remove the problem where the daily goal is to find enough food to survive to the next day would allow focus into other areas that could only benefiet humanity. We can either deal with it now, or be forced to deal with it later.

I think now is more preferable rather than later, when we are fighting other pressing issues facing humanity, while facing famine at the same time.

Originally posted by Zamini
reply to post by Expat888

 

They like to pretend they have problems in order to create synthetic sympathy for themselves. Food shortages in the West means a supermarket that is out of your favourite brand of boxed or canned food.

You think people in the west have no problems? Ha, how naive of you. Every country has their problems. I assure you, the west has it's share of starving and homeless people.... If you think otherwise.... then, quite frankly..... You need to get out of your house and go take a look around....

Because you could NOT be more wrong..... and quite frankly, what you suggested is rather offensive. You are really suggesting that people in the west have zero problems and have such an over abundance of food... yes, clearly all people in the west weigh 500 pounds and above... How rude...

As for eating bugs.... No, I will pass. I am lucky enough that I am able to go to the store and buy food for the time being... Sadly, 1 in 6 in the United states are having to go hungry every day.... And I PROMISE you, Hungry in the US does NOT mean being out of their favorite brand of potato chips.....

This is a creative idea , and i think people won't feel disgusting if the bugs can be cooked in a good looking and flavor.

I think his real agenda is to get us all to turn into vegetarians. Because that is exactly what I will be doing the second that this is actually implemented.

Had roasted tarantulas while in thailand.. Quite delicous.. And at times have had other insects its not as bad as people seem to think. Tbh would eat insects before Id ever eat western food..

Originally posted by Navieko
"I'll give up my steak when they peel my fat, greasy fingers from around it!".

edit on 26/12/10 by Navieko because: (no reason given)

Sounds like a plan. Make sure to train your kids to be the same. Evolution'll take care of the rest.

reply to post by q_ball


HEY! Lobster and shrimp used to be "poor peoples' food" - now they're popular delicacies.

But this it the part that concerns me:

But if they were farmed on an industrial scale, they would be an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat, he said.

Farming bugs on an industrial scale!?!

Have these guys learned nothing from Mad Cow? Or Swine Flu and Bird Flu?

There is no food supply shortage. There is an efficiency shortage.

more gets thrown out than consumed in america for food, thanks to our picky eaters. i was one of them until i learned how eating out of a trash can can save you when one is homeless.

yet its illegal to donate thrown out fresh foods... morons our leaders are.

reply to post by Xcathdra


To elaborate upon that comment as well as support it:
Why don't we actually use our farms to feed people in our own country, Instead of exporting our high quality products for high profits and importing another countries lower quality products to feed ourselves.
Most of what gets imported by us usually get processed and made into other things that are again, the source of high profit. They are processed and extended and artificially filed, all in the name of money.
Countries need to keep their agriculture in border and support their farms and not rely on outside monetary gain.
This is why most of the farms in the USA are on the verge of bankruptcy and are forced to produce for profit, for export, high yield crops.
Don't get me wrong, those that farm deserve to make their living and be profitable, but profit is to be made, it needs to be made by the farmers and not the bureaucracy that supports this ridiculous system and makes loans to those farmers knowing they cannot make the repayment.

reply to post by Bunken Drum

Dude, it was sarcasm... I've been a vegetarian since birth!

Originally posted by Navieko
reply to post by Bunken Drum

 

Dude, it was sarcasm... I've been a vegetarian since birth!

Oops! Sorry.

I had no choice. I insisted on becoming vegie @15 (1983), once I realised there was a choice. That wasn't the reason, but I got kicked out of my mum's place shortly after. Never looked back.
My kids have been vegies since birth. A lot healthier than I, or anyone I knew, as kids.

reply to post by reticledc


Completely agree with what you said. In my personal opinion, I do think food should be one of those areas where its either cheap or pretty much free, depending on item.

as a side note this conversation made me think of this:

Originally posted by matthewgraybeal
There is no food supply shortage. There is an efficiency shortage.

more gets thrown out than consumed in america for food, thanks to our picky eaters. i was one of them until i learned how eating out of a trash can can save you when one is homeless.

yet its illegal to donate thrown out fresh foods... morons our leaders are.

Sometimes I wonder if the homeless know how to hunt, if they know how to skin, gut, and clean a squirrel to eat or something.

Coincidentally, not too long ago, in early November, "Earth Beat", the Radio Netherlands Worldwide ecological program, broadcast a report on the subject of insects as food. In an interview with entomologist Marcel Dikker (?) they discussed some of the matters that have been mentioned here, like the "yuck factor" (revulsion), overpopulation and insect parts in processed food, but also other ones, such as the risk of catching diseases (no such risk since we're distantly related to insects, and thus our diseases are also distantly related to theirs), collecting them yourself in the back garden (the golden rule: "red, orange, yellow, forget this fellow; black, green or brown, wolf it down") and cruelty, a somewhat funny question as regards bugs, but what does P.E.T.A. have to say about this???

They supply online recordings of previous programs but no transcripts, so I'll include here the comments about the cruelty issue.

Marnie Chesterton (their hostess): I've got to ask this: if you're…INTENSIVELY raising insects, will there be CRUELTY problems?

M.D.: Uuh…I don't think so, because insects are used to living…eeh…in high densities, and if you look at a locust swarm, then it's SO many THOUSANDS of insects, or MILLIONS of insects in a very small space…eehmm…if you start to rear them, you do them at the same…pace, and, in fact, insects ARE…GREGARIOUS, and so they…TEND to live together (…) so THAT problem…doesn't occur…eh…with insects.

M.Ch.: They don't have personal space issues.

M.D.: No, I DON'T think so.

[In other words, in a world where we have "battery hens" there's no such thing as "battery insects", no matter how crowded.]