Disgusted Europe. Will insects become our staple food?

Beetles, caterpillars, ants, bees and wasps, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, termites, silkworms, dragonflies, cockroaches and even tarantulas… Insects in the form of larvae (white and fatty) or in adult form – raw, fried, baked or milled into flour. Out of 1.6 million species of insects 1.4 thousand are edible.

History of food is a history of eating insects. Before man learnt to make tools, hunt or use fire he ate what he could gather: fruit and insects. He learnt from animals which insects are edible and archaeological digs prove that they were present in human diet (remains of undigested insects are found in excrements). In Asia, Africa and South America where, thanks to warmer climates, there are more insects and they grow larger, insects are staple foods. For the Europeans, however, the idea is repulsive.

– Although there are some restaurants in Europe which serve insect dishes, they are still no more than a curiosity. Insects are served, for example, by Rene Redzepi in Noma, Copenhagen – one of the best, if not the best, restaurants in the world. His mission is to convince customers that insects are good and healthy. Because they are indeed – says doctor Anna Żołnierczyk from the Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Food Science at UPWr, who researches nutritional substances in insects.

– Adult insects are a low-caloric source of protein, minerals, vitamins, fatty acids and fibre. 100 g of silkworms satisfies daily requirements for all microelements. 100 g of crickets contain more calcium than a glass of milk. Some caterpillars contain 10 times more iron than red meat. A grasshopper has 16% of fat and provides 96 kilocalories – a same portion of beef has 48% of fat and almost three times more calories – lists doctor Żołnierczyk.

The ecological aspect of insect breeding is equally important. – Insect production uses 12 times less water than beef production. We need neither as many pastures, nor as much food. Insects are cold-blooded so in order to produce the same biomass they need significantly less energy than warm-blooded animals. From ten kilograms of feed we can produce 9 kilos of insects and only one kilo of beef. Moreover, only 40% of cow’s body is edible compared to the 80% of insects’, and even 100% of larvae. It may turn out that, in the near future, eating insects will be a necessity – explains doctor Żołnierczyk. Nevertheless, it is not advisable to catch those living in the wild as insects, like meat, should be examined first. In Poland it is still difficult to find insect breeding farms (some produce insects as animal feed) but on the Internet living insects can be bought along with the dried or processed ones (in the form of flours or protein bars.)

And how do insects taste? – Very differently. Ants, for example, are sour and citrus-tasting but their eggs, which contain more fat, have a nutty flavour – says doctor Anna Żołnierczyk. – Interestingly, insects are basically omnivorous – a domestic breed can be fed even with dinner leftovers. Their life cycle and digestive tract are so short that they taste of what they have eaten. If we feed them with cinnamon, they will taste of cinnamon.

Sometimes we eat insects not even knowing about it. Carminic acid is a red dye from scale insects which can be found in cosmetics, alcoholic drinks, juices or conserves. There are, of course, insects which should not be eaten – these are especially the ones of bright colours, hairy caterpillars which have poison on the tips of their hairs, red ants or insects feeding on carrion.

And although edible insects are still just a curiosity, there are exceptions: - In the north of Italy, in summer, children eat beautiful and colourful caterpillars, which are very sweet. This seems strange as this species also contains hydrogen cyanide – which is a poison though in a tiny amount. On Sardinia a sheep’s cheese is produced into which larvae of a certain species of fly are injected in order to induce fermentation. As long as the larvae are alive, the cheese is fit to eat. Dead larvae mean that the cheese has gone off. The cheese is registered by the European Union as a regional product. It is an exclusive and expensive commodity and it is recommended to eat it while wearing glasses! This is because the larvae may jump and fall into one’s eyes.

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