Insects have great potential to serve as a sustainable food source owing to their notable nutritional value, high feed conversion rate, and low environmental footprint. The sharing of well-established recipes in cultures where insect consumption is normalized can facilitate new product development among cultures where consumption is resisted. In the current investigation, we traveled to both rural and urban areas of Oaxaca, Mexico and studied the collection, processing, retailing, and eating practices of edible insects such as chapulines [Sphenarium purpurascens Charpentier (Pyrgomorphidae, Orthoptera) and Melanoplus mexicanus (Saussure) (Acrididae, Orthoptera)], chicatanas [Atta mexicana (F. Smith) (Formicidae, Hymenoptera)], maguey worms [Comadia redtenbacheri (Hammerschmidt) (Cossidae, Lepidoptera)], and cochineal [Dactylopius coccus Costa (Dactylopiidae, Hemiptera)]. In rural communities where access to other animal-based foods has been limited, insects provided important nutritional value that today also translates into important economic value. Community members know the habits of the insects and are skilled at collecting them using sophisticated techniques. After collection, the insects are often toasted with or without seasonings for flavor and preservation. The processed insects are readily available in urban markets, and their importance in Oaxacan cuisine cannot be overestimated. Chapulines, chicatanas, and maguey worms are key ingredients in many spice mixes, salsas, and mole sauces. Cochineal is used as a food colorant. These insects are also found in a variety of foods, both sweet and savory, including omelets, tamales, quesadillas, chocolate truffles, and sorbets. As evidenced by the culinary uses of insects in Oaxaca, there is substantial potential for edible insects to become a delicacy in Western cultures.

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At the beginning of June 2018, I set o for my rst eld season in the valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, to learn more about traditional medicine involving edible insects. One day, the group of students that I was traveling with stopped at a restaurant to have comida (lunch). We were o ered an array of snacks, soups, salads, meats and a make-it-yourself tostada bar. Among the toppings o ered in the Kayla J. Hurd is a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Notre Dame. Her interests include traditional medicine, pharmaceutical design and resistance, evolutionary medicine, and the application of chemistry within medical anthropology. She will explore non-human actors (insects and micro-organisms) and their relationship with human diseases.

Over the course of our evolution, humans have developed increasingly sophisticated technology for utilising natural resources. The origins of these technologies are difficult to identify since they rely on natural resources that are often perishable in local environments so do not preserve for archaeologists to find millions of years later. However, by looking at our closest cousin in the order Primates, we see that chimpanzees utilise tools, most commonly for foraging for social insects such as ants and termites. This parallel suggests that our early ancestors would have had a similar capacity for making and using tools, quite possibly for the same goal of extracting insects from their nests. By 1.5 million years ago, we see archaeological evidence of tools used for insect foraging in the form of bone digging implements. With the evolution of our genus Homo, the capacity to use forethought to create more complicated tools opens up the possibility for baskets and nets. These items do not preserve in very ancient sediments, but they begin to appear around 25,000 years ago, and their utility to contemporary foraging populations supports the notion of a more ancient origin. Each of these advances intensifies human utilisation of insects as a food resource and are precursor to more extensive environmental manipulation and eventual agriculture. As insect consumption scales up around the world today, it requires increasing intensification, but this is a challenge humans have been overcoming for millions of years.

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