Edible insects: Traditional knowledge or western phobia?

Abstract

With an increasing human population and environmental degradation, the world faces a major problem in providing adequate animal based proteins. Many traditional societies have used or still use insects as a protein source, while westernized societies are reluctant to use insects, despite being the major consumers of animal proteins. We now need to consider insects as a source of food for humans in a manner that acknowledges both the role of entomophagy in indigenous societies and the need for westernized societies to reduce the size of their environmental footprint with regard to food production. The situation on continents such as Africa, Asia, and Central and South America has some parallels to Australia in that there are two forces in operation: the sustainable traditional use of edible insects and the “westernization” of these societies leading to a movement away from entomophagy. However, the potential to reach a compromise is greater in these continents because entomophagy is already accepted. The major challenges will be establishing sustainable production systems that include food safety and security as well as environmental protection. Whether this will happen or not will depend upon: (i) a major change in attitude in westernized societies towards entomophagy; (ii) pressure to conserve remaining habitats in a sustainable manner; (iii) economic impetus to develop food production systems that include insects; and (iv) an acknowledgement that achieving adequate nutrition on a global basis will involve different diets in much of the developed world.

A Comprehensive Look at the Possibilities of Edible Insects as Food in Europe – A Review

“…The colonization also took its toll, and eroded entomophagy just as it eroded cultural diversity everywhere in various other ways [Yen, 2009]. The impact of globalization and the fascination among a large cross-section of population towards fast-food culture has further weaned away a large number of protein--hungry people of the third world from what until now was a rich and affordable source of animal protein for them -i.e.…”

“…The results indicate the need for thorough heat treatment for detoxification of the African silkworm, making the worm a safe source of high quality protein [Nishimune et al, 2000]. Another problem is the pesticide applications against locusts and grasshoppers, which can cause problems because of their toxic residues [Van Huis, 2003;Yen, 2009].…”

“…For Australian Aborigines insects provide sugar (honey ants, sugar bags, and lerps) and fat (grubs, Bogong moths) [Yen, 2009]. Ants containing much iron can substitute chemical sources of this element [Ramos-Elorduy et al, 1997].…”

The perfect storm of business venturing? The case of entomology-based venture creation

“…In addition to that, the growing wealth in developed countries as well as emerging economies, such as China, increases the purchase power of the consumers and thus pushing for a greater demand of processed food from meat, fish and dairy (Tilman et al 2001). The market globalization triggers even more the consumption of meat products and decreases the types of consumed food products (Yen 2009). Moreover still an important percentage of world population do not have access to sufficient proteins (sometimes reaching extreme hunger levels), and even more people suffer from a form of micronutrient malnourishment (Barrett 2010).…”

Bug Delicacies: Insects as a Powerful Food Resource for a Troubled World

“…Eating insects is still a very common practice in many parts of the world as part of ancient traditions preserved in different cultures of Asia, Australia, Africa and the Americas [3,[11][12][13][14]. Despite this, Western civilization has traditionally been prejudiced against entomophagy which is strange considering that other arthropods (e.g crustaceans) are widely consumed [15,16] although this trend is slowly reversing as the edition of cook-books offering insect recipes increases [10, [17][18][19]. Furthermore, recent reviews strongly support entomophagy both as a cultural activity deserving respect [20], and as a means of boosting nutrition in emergent societies where the risk of starving is unfortunately, a perpetual sword of Damocles [3,12,14,[21][22][23].…”