Fascinating documentary about insect-eating

[UndercoverElephant]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... the_World/

[Little John]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... the_World/

I'd eat them, no problem.

[UndercoverElephant]

I've been getting more and more interested in this topic recently, and I think this documentary has pushed me over the edge. May have to try eating British ants.

It looks to me like most insects/invertebrates are actually edible. It's just a case of what is worth collecting.

[RenewableCandy]

I bet they'd make quite a nice stir-fry with a bit of ginger or garlic and some veg. But, don't they have some kind of venom? Or is it neutralised by being cooked?

[Snail]

If that's the one featuring tarantula eating, I've seen it. Some of the meals looked quite tasty. The presenter also mentioned that you can buy tinned insects; might be interesting to try.

The insect 'farm' seemed extremely viable too.

[UndercoverElephant]

I bet they'd make quite a nice stir-fry with a bit of ginger or garlic and some veg. But, don't they have some kind of venom? Or is it neutralised by being cooked?

Ants? The "venom" is formic acid, which would indeed be destroyed by cooking.

[UndercoverElephant]

If that's the one featuring tarantula eating, I've seen it. Some of the meals looked quite tasty.

Yes and yes.

The insect 'farm' seemed extremely viable too.

...and yes.

Very efficient, no suffering involved. The only problem is cultural squeamishness. Personally I love prawns and other "weird" seafood, so why not?

Which was the whole point in the program - to ask the question "why not?"

[Little John]

I've been getting more and more interested in this topic recently, and I think this documentary has pushed me over the edge. May have to try eating British ants.

It looks to me like most insects/invertebrates are actually edible. It's just a case of what is worth collecting.

Seems to me like growing your own crickets in your back garden or back yard, if you have one, would be quite viable since they seem to take up very little space. It just then comes down to how much the input feedstock costs are as compared to the value of the output protien. I'd be very interested to know some numbers on that.

Also, it occurs to me that given that some land is unfit for growing much other than scrub, if insect such as crickets were unfussy eaters then the numbers might add up for, say, growing cricket protien on the back of scrubland output and then selling the crickets on to rabbit and chicken farmers as a high protien food that is cheaper by nutrient value than their current feedstock of grain. Not very green, of course, but might make money.

Just thinking out loud.

[Snail]

What with all the people and the rising costs of conventional farming, insect-eating may be more common here in the future.

[biffvernon]

It just then comes down to how much the input feedstock costs are as compared to the value of the output protein. I'd be very interested to know some numbers on that.

Being cold-blooded, the numbers are likely to be favourable as the crickets etc don't waste energy keeping their bodies warm.

[Snail]

Reading it now, but seems like an informative pdf on subject: http://www.cityfarmer.org/Insectpaper.pdf

[Little John]

You know what, I'm actually starting to wonder if this might be a way to make a relatively small parcel of land pay its way. The main issue is finding an end buyer for the crickets. Given current cultural resistance to human consumption in this country, the following customer streams spring to mind as possibilities:

whole insects for reptile and other exotic pet owners

whole insects for poultry growers

insect flour (basically, baked and ground up insects) as a high protein food supplement for any livestock

If any others spring to anyone else's mind I'd be interested to hear of them.

[RenewableCandy]

"any livestock" eating the hi-protein food might, of course, include people on slimming diets

[Little John]

"any livestock" eating the hi-protein food might, of course, include people on slimming diets

Good one, never thought of that.

Come to think of it, body builders use high protein/low fat supplements all the time.

[UndercoverElephant]

You know what, I'm actually starting to wonder if this might be a way to make a relatively small parcel of land pay its way. The main issue is finding an end buyer for the crickets. Given current cultural resistance to human consumption in this country, the following customer streams spring to mind as possibilities:

whole insects for reptile and other exotic pet owners

whole insects for poultry growers

insect flour (basically, baked and ground up insects) as a high protein food supplement for any livestock

If any others spring to anyone else's mind I'd be interested to hear of them.

Trendy restaurants, probably.