Personally I find this --sustainable-- idea revolting but . . .

[Michaelangelica]

. . .especially after recently munching on a cocroach leg (strong taste!)
I was just reading an interesting article on edible insects in Cosmos no longer available on line

Cosmos - October/November 2008 - Departments & Regulars (Page 70)
Moreover, edible insects can forage on a far wider range of plants than do ...
digital.cosmosmagazine.com/cosmosmagazine/20081011/?pg=73




"Cows and pigs are the SUVs of the food world.
And bugs--they're the Piruses, maybe even bicycles".

The argument for eating bugs (a pretty good one):
1. We eat them now eg the US FDA says it is OK to have up to thirty insect pieces in 100g peanut butter etc etc

2. Eaten in Africa and Asia (& 113 countries) some are delicacies.

3. We eat crustacean from the sea crustaceans and insects all are arthropods.

4. Sea crustacean eat dead meat --- insects are vegan.

5. Crickets or Grasshoppers can be more nutritious than an equal quantity of beef or pork.

6. Fats in bugs are healthier.

7. High in essential amino acids and good protein.

8.Insects are generally clean living in their choice of food and habitat.

9. Insects forage on wider range of food plants than traditional meat animals and so can tap sources that are worthless in conventional meat production eg cactus mesquite.

10. Diet conversion is six times higher than beef "Cows and pigs are the SUVs of the food world. And bugs--they're the Piruses, maybe even bicycles".

11. Bugs can be raised sustainably.

[purplepear]

Bug er that MA

[Yukkuri_Kame]

First time I met my Japanese grandmother-in-law she was snacking on some crickets boiled in sugar and soy sauce. She was in her 90's then, and over 100 now. :D Apparently, when she was younger they were quite poor and would collect grasshoppers by hand, prepare them and sell to folks passing by. Anyway, when she offered the crickets, I accepted and found they were quite delicious treats! Crispy outside, chewy-gooey inside and just the right balance of sweet and salty.

[Grahame]

Are they better for you than eggs? 'cause I'd rather feed them to my chooks and eat the eggs.

[eco4560]

Maybe you could do baked choko rolled in crushed bugs MA? mmmmm.....

[purplepear]

All things taste great with an open mind and plenty of garlic butter.

[Michaelangelica]

Maybe you could do baked choko rolled in crushed bugs MA? mmmmm.....


purplepear
Bug er that MA
You are all evil, rude people and god will get you and fry you in GM canola oil!

Thank you Yukkuri_Kame for your constructive, first hand comment.I hope you do not follow the example set by our more senior members ;)

I have eaten witchittry grubs, they were OK, a bit like squishy peanut butter, but wouldn't go out of my way to find more.

The thing is, the case made for eating bugs is VERY good --sustainably wise.
The word for it is Entomophagy
Search that and you get
Why not eat insects, by Vincent M. Holst (1885) - Part 1
http://www.foodreference.com/html/artinsects1.html
and
http://www.manataka.org/page160.html
and
http://www.melaniejean.com/insectcuisine.htm
Perhaps it is all a learning curve? :)

[Speedy]

I seem to recall reading somewhere that M.Fukuoka studied the edibility of insects during the war years.
Please let me know if anyone can confirm.

I used to get the larvae these for fishing bait out of the ground under eucalypts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trictena_atripalpis
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/hepi/atripal.html

Often, if the fish were off the bite, I'd roll them in the hot ashes of a fire for a few minutes
then eat them.
Very fatty/oily, peanut buttery (sort of) taste with partially digested sawdust giving a nice wood sort of flavour and interesting texture.

Raw, they're not as enjoyable, they're a bit acrid and gooey and kind of sting the back of my throat.

like Raw egg vs. cooked egg I guess , most people go for the latter if given the choice.

I eat these anyday if given the chance.
4-5 is a good feed.

I've also tried longicorn beetle larvae ( wood borers) ,
but they're nowhere near as good in taste or size.

[Moe]

hi, I was in Thailand recently and tried a grasshopper at a night market. It was good! seriously! It tasted like soy sauce and sort of grainy/reedy... Hard to describe. Maybe like multi-grain bread with lots of husks still in it. If you've ever eaten raw wheat you'll know what i'm talking about haha. The texture was very crunchy and reminded me of chips.

[mos6507]

IMHO, the process of learning to tolerate eating bugs is just a transition towards Soylent Green. It's a canary in the coalmine.

I draw the line at leeching acorns on my dietary powerdown extremes.

[ecodharmamark]

G'day mos6507

I remember seeing Soylent Green (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green) as a child - frightened me a great deal. Maybe this is why I am so passionate today about furthering the utopian ideal, rather than the dystopian...

Hooroo, Marko.

[Synergy]

I was thinking about this topic the last few days after watching a cooking show segment from Burma where they showed certain spiders , ant larvae and the odd ant being food ingredients, and I did have the thought I would not hesitate to try something prepared by someone who knew what they were doing. I too was thinking they would be a more sustainable and higher quality protein if they were responsibly farmed or harvested and would be less environmental impact than the larger livestock we more customarily consume, again if raised or harvested sustainably. The idea does not revolt me in the least .

[Michaelangelica]

locust plague or opportunity?

LOCUSTS

Locusts can do extreme damage to crops when they swarm in great numbers. One swarm seen over the Red Sea in 1889 was estimated to be 2,000 square miles in size. There are several edible species, and they are important food sources in some areas, especially Africa. They can be grilled, roasted or boiled, and also ground to a paste.

Health (http://english.pravda.ru/health/)
Boiled ants and locusts make healthiest and most nutritious food on Earth

09.06.2006


http://newenglish.pravda.ru/images/article/4/5/7/12457.jpeg
Boiled ants and locusts make healthiest and most nutritious food on Earth

If you think that locusts (http://english.pravda.ru/filing/locusts/) are used as food in Africa and the Middle East only, you are deeply mistaken. We eat dishes of insects on a regular basis too. This food is very good for health. For several decades chitin and its derivatives have been added to foodstuffs (http://english.pravda.ru/filing/foodstuffs/), medicines, cosmetics, and even suture (the material – silk, catgut, nylon, or wire – used to sew up a wound). The Japanese (http://english.pravda.ru/filing/The_Japanese/) were the first to embrace the chitin fashion, the Americans and Europeans soon followed suit. Russian manufacturers finally adopted the technique too.

Chitin is a principal constituent of the exoskeleton, or other covering, of insects (http://english.pravda.ru/filing/insects/), crustaceans (crabs, shrimps, lobsters) and insects (beetles and butterflies). Besides, chitin occurs in a cell membrane of yeast, algae and fungi.
Chitin additives are used to make food look more attractive and enhance its flavor. They are also used as preservatives. Some people use them as food supplements. Chitin diet is exceptionally good for health.
The chitin additives can work wonders:

More at:-http://english.pravda.ru/health/09-06-2006/81770-insects-0/

[Michaelangelica]

[/URL]

Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects as food, has historically been documented in Mexican culture back to pre-Hispanic times. This thanks to Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish Franciscan missionary who compiled ethnographic information about Aztec culture in what is now known as the Codice Fiorentino. He described 96 species at the time, and today up to 504 species have been documented, in the center, southeast, and north of Mexico.

This incredible diversity of creatures was incorporated into a diet based on maize, beans, and squash. Part of the practice continues today, with a variety of delicious recipes in which ant eggs, worms, and grasshoppers are the main ingredients.
In Tepic, Nayarit, and Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, locals eat fly larva, also known as “gusanos del queso.” Cheese is wrapped in a banana leaf and left to rest for four to five days, allowing the wingless, worm-like creatures to hatch and be eaten.
These small beings are also consumed for medicinal purposes, as analgesics for respiratory, circulatory, and digestive diseases.

An intense course we completed at UNISG recently, “Food, Sustainability, and the Environment,” stung my Mexican insect-eating interest back to life. Escamoles (ant larvae, also known as Mexican caviar, pictured on right) and chapulines (grasshoppers or locusts) chirped into my gastronomic mind. More interestingly, a web-like series of connections slowly crawled into being: the relationship between Mexican culture, insect eating, and sustainability.
More at [url]http://www.ergolabcom-unisg.it/nl/0810/insectEN.htm (http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivcris/3834645222)

[Michaelangelica]

Locust nymphs emerging, compare to a five-cent-piece.
The Plague Locust threat
ABC Rural brings you specialist coverage of the locust plague threat facing south-eastern Australia. We'll be using all of our on-the-ground resources to keep you up-to-date with the latest information relating to reported sightings, hatchings, control efforts and what you can do to help.

* Print Print
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* ?#Description#?Get updates with ABC Rural on Twitter
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* Report locust sightings to the Australian Plague Locust CommissionAustralian Plague Locust Commission

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/locusts/?WT.mc_id=Corp_ABCLocust_FacebookABCGateway

[digging]

Eating bugs can be just another type of foraging, the lightest way to live.

Digging

[Michaelangelica]

http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57729/
Opinion: Bugs can solve food crisis
A tropical entomologist argues that edible insects offer a sustainable alternative for conventional meat

[Published 29th September 2010 01:14 PM GMT]

As early as 1885, the British entomologist Vincent M. Holt wrote a booklet with the title: "Why not eat insects?"
It is a good question, as most of the world population does.
More than 1000 insect species are eaten in the tropics, including caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, termites, ants, bees, wasps, and true bugs. This is probably because insects in warmer climates are bigger and show more crowding behaviour than in temperate zones, making harvesting from nature easier.
It is an erroneous Western assumption that people in the tropics eat insects because they are starving. To the contrary, an insect snack is often considered a delicacy.
http://images.the-scientist.com/content/images/general/57729-1.jpg
Insects sold at Laotian markets.
Image: Arnold van Huis
Nutritionally, insects are comparable to conventional meat such as pork, beef, mutton, or fish. Depending on the species, insects contain between 30 and 70 percent protein, and are a good source of essential fatty acids, vitamins (in particular the B vitamins) and minerals (such as iron and zinc).
The chitinous exoskeleton comprises only a small part of the total biomass (<10 percent) and can even be partially digested, as chitinase has been found in human gastric juices.

The meat crisis may prompt us to look for alternative protein sources. Since 1970, world meat consumption has increased almost three-fold, and is expected to have doubled by 2050. However, already 70 percent of all agricultural land is used for livestock. Further intensification of industrial livestock production could increase health and environmental costs, such as contamination of surface and groundwater with nutrients, heavy metals and pathogens; acidification of ecosystems because of ammonia emissions; and use of huge amounts of fresh water (40,000 liters for one kilogram of beef). Besides, high-density animal production systems increase livestock disease incidence, and new, often antibiotic-resistant diseases emerge. Ruminants also emit large amounts of the greenhouse gas methane by enteric fermentation.
Although termites, cockroaches and certain beetle species produce methane, most edible insect species do not. Meanwhile, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimates that 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions is derived from livestock.

An advantage of insects compared to conventional meat is that they are cold-blooded and do not use energy to maintain a constant high body temperature. For that reason, they convert feed more efficiently to body mass. To produce one kilogram of meat, a cricket needs 1.7 kilogram of feed -- significantly less than a chicken (2.2), pig (3.6), sheep (6.3), and cow (7.7).
Additionally, the edible proportion after processing is much higher for insects -- it's 80 percent in crickets -- than for pork (70 percent), chicken (65 percent), beef (55 percent), and lamb (35 percent).
http://images.the-scientist.com/content/images/general/57729-2.jpg
Bamboo caterpillars in Laotian markets.
Image: Arnold van Huis
Bees and silk worms have been domesticated because of the honey and silk they produce, but they also serve as food. Some insects like palm weevils are semi-domesticated, where people cut palm trees to promote egg laying. The resulting larvae are considered a delicacy all over the tropics. When collected from nature, the sustainability of harvesting practices becomes an issue. Rearing edible insects under artificial conditions offers another possibility. In Thailand, thousands of households produce crickets either for their own consumption or for the market. In the West, companies produce insects as fish bait and as live feed for domestic and zoo animals such as birds and reptiles. Three insect-rearing companies in The Netherlands since 2008 have been producing locusts and mealworms (Tenebrionid beetle larvae) for human consumption. Mechanized rearing procedures should be capable of achieving high production volumes as insects can be reared under crowded conditions and they have high multiplication and development rates. Only those insects should be reared that are not a threat to the environment, so those cleared by quarantine services. However, house crickets and mealworms are not at threat as they are cosmopolitan.

What are the prospects for human entomophagy (the formal term for the practice of eating insects)? In tropical countries, eating insects is already common practice; governments and entrepreneurs should exploit the potential, promote the industry, and develop the entomophagy food chain. Mopane worm production in southern Africa is already a US$85 million business, in which 10 billion caterpillars are harvested annually. Improved preservation procedures (drying, freeze drying, tinning) would alleviate the current irregular supply.

In Western countries, it may be difficult to change food habits, although we have learned to eat shrimps, oysters and snails. Could insects be made more acceptable by processing them into something unrecognizable (such as the ever-mysterious fish sticks, or hot dogs)? Or, as Wageningen University in The Netherlands is investigating, could we extract, purify and use insect protein as a significant component of the human diet?

So why not eat insects? To convince Western consumers, it would be essential to provide information about the nutritional value, ensure food safety, explain the environmental benefits, develop good recipes, make the product accessible, and establish a regulatory and legislative framework. A taste experience is generally a first step for consumers in crossing the psychological barrier.

Arnold van Huis is a tropical entomologist based at the Wageningen University, the Netherlands.


Comment on this news story


Return to Top
comment:
Yea! Sense at last!
by Evelyn Haskins

[Comment posted 2010-10-01 01:12:02]
If people can eat prawns, then they can eat anything!! Just charge enough and call it a delicacy.

Here we are in Australia moaning and groaning about our on-coming locust plague (always after the breaking of a drought!!) when instead we should be rubbing our hands in glee in anticipation of the bumper crop or large edible and, according to our cats and dogs, really delicious locusts :-)



Return to Top
comment:
Pork or fish?
by Mark Cannell

[Comment posted 2010-09-30 13:59:58]
If there is indeed a meat shortage, then pigs offer a good and traditional solution as they turn biomass into pig with extraordinary efficiency. Fish farming might provide an an even better solution to a 'meat' shortage (if one exists) because it does not require require land. I would also like to know if there are long term health risks associated with an insect diet before embracing this rather unpalatable (to me) idea.


Return to Top
comment:
Names
by Kenneth Pimple

[Comment posted 2010-09-30 12:58:38]
Along with recipes, etc., we'd need new names for some insects. It worked when rape seed oil was renamed canola; it can work for the mealworm, too.

My understanding is that meat is plentiful and cheap because it is subsidized, as least in the U.S., and produced using inhumane and wasteful practices. If we let meat prices rise to their actual cost, insects might become a bargain.

It would take social change, but social change can come quite quickly. I don't know exactly when the tide turned, but sometime between 1979 and 1986 cigarette smokers stopped smoking at parties and in college classrooms - now they almost always go outside. This was a huge change and it happened very rapidly. The same could happen with eating insects in the right circumstances. It won't happen unless it starts somewhere.

Ken Pimple


Return to Top
comment:
Chinese people like eating insects
by Ting Wang

[Comment posted 2010-09-29 18:46:16]
In China, especially Shandong Province, people like eating insects, such as cicadaworm, silkworm chrysalis.


Return to Top
comment:
What's next?
by anonymous poster

[Comment posted 2010-09-29 18:32:38]
After a plate full of maggots, what's next? Soylent green?


Return to Top
comment:
Engineering Social Change the Biggest Issue
by GREG PRONGER

[Comment posted 2010-09-29 14:17:23]
The problem is the social acceptability of the food. The author states;

"So why not eat insects? To convince Western consumers, it would be essential to provide information about the nutritional value, ensure food safety, explain the environmental benefits, develop good recipes, make the product accessible, and establish a regulatory and legislative framework. A taste experience is generally a first step for consumers in crossing the psychological barrier."

I spent a large amount of my career as a technical director for a national environmental testing company with numerous locations around the U.S. My general perspective was that it would be easier to build a functional mass-spectrometer from dirt than to change the culture of the lab.

Food is an intrinsic part of the sociological fabric, and the acceptability of something significantly outside the norm would be difficult at best. Food choice is impacted by status, regional cultural differences, taste and appearance.

It may be feasible to utilize insect as a protein supplement in foodstuffs, but it will require significant social change for acceptance of insects as a direct food source within the general western culture.


Read more: Opinion: Bugs can solve food crisis - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/57729/#ixzz11GnT1eLL

[springtide]

Hmmmm. There is an Australian author by the name of Alan Baillie who wrote a book called "A Taste of Cockroach" and you can draw the moral to the story as "Just because you can doesn't mean you should" - it's a good read and i'm going to stick with that same conclusion.

[Michaelangelica]

The Forum
11/12/2010
MEDIA:
Listen now (55 minutes)
the future of food consumption. Dutch behavioural ecologist Marcel Dicke argues we should all learn to like the taste of insects – however whiskery or slimy they may be. Insects are a more efficient way to provide food rich in protein, for the world’s growing population.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ccrnv

[sun burn]

Well if the predictions about chronic and critical food shortages come to pass we'd better all be willing to eat insects because that might be all there is to eat for most people. I am certain that the habit of insect eating in asia arose out of famine situations. If they like them, we can probably get to like them too.

[springtide]

And here they are signing petitions to ban the sale of horse meat..... go figure.

[DonHansford]

Perhaps we pick a class of humans that add weight relatively easily, feed the insects to them, then eat THEM!

Solves the obesity problem, cuts the number of plague locusts available for breeding, solves the protein crisis, and helps ease overcrowding on the only planet we've got!

Win, win, win! :rofl:

[Speedy]

I think that most human meat wouldn't be fit for human consumption.
not on moral or ethical grounds, but for health reasons,
I mean, have you seen the shit that some of them eat?
accumulation of toxins, heavy metals etc.
I wouldn't eat that unless I was really desperate :shake:
:D

[sun burn]

Woah! This thread is taking a scary turn! lol

[Michaelangelica]

Cicada Icecream
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/cicada-invasion-becomes-frozen-treat-june-bugs-next.html#mkcpgn=fbpg2
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/brood-19-missouri-cicada-1.jpg
For those who are interested (or squeamish) more cicada recipes (pdf) (http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/pdf/cicada%20recipes.PDF) can be found courtesy of the University of Maryland, which suggests Cicada Dumplings, Cicada Stir-Fry and Cica-Delicious Pizza, which is apparently a step above anchovies.

[andrew curr]

IMHO, the process of learning to tolerate eating bugs is just a transition towards Soylent Green. It's a canary in the coalmine.

I draw the line at leeching acorns on my dietary powerdown extremes.

why? the korean jelly acorn dish is sensational ! some acorns are sweeter than others
has anyone got any silkworms??

[Michaelangelica]

I don't have a problem with acorns.
They don't have legs

the use of acorns as a human food began declining in the early 1600's as oak forests were cleared for annual crop production-in particular, for corn. Nowadays, almost four billion bushels of corn are harvested in this country every year, while only a handful of Native Americans and wild-food enthusiasts take advantage of the free-for-the-gathering acorn bounty. It seems a shame that the food which once served as the staff of life to human cultures is now widely disregarded.


Unfortunately, when the costs and benefits of growing corn and acorns are compared, it becomes apparent that the changeover has not been much of a bargain. As a perennial tree crop, acorns can be grown year after year without cultivation, fertilization, irrigation, or-in most cases-spraying for pests. The oak also has the ability to yield well on marginal land, including steep, erosion-prone hillsides. Acorn production has other benefits, as well. The trees contribute to soil deposition, provide increased rainfall retention for replenishing the groundwater supply, act as windbreaks, supply summer shade, and furnish harvests of hardwood lumber and firewood and-in the case of one oak (Quercus suber)—cork. What's more, the tannin present in many acorn varieties is a sought-after commercial product.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1984-09-01/Acorns-The-Grain-That-Grows-on-Trees.aspx#ixzz1PMCLZDuu
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2003-10-01/Oaks-Acorns-and-You.aspx
http://www.thepeoplespaths.net/NAIFood/acorns.htm

[Speedy]

I love oaks!
...and dont forget, the edible mushrooms that oaks play host to...
I'm trialing as many oak species as I can suitable for my climate.

re. human food.
In Spain 'bellotas' are still eaten ....
Quercus rotundifoliawas for a long time considdered a variety of Q.ilex.
http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_rotundifolia.htm
http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_ilex.htm
I've so far been unable to locate it in Aus., but I'm growing Q.ilex anyway.
selecting acorns from heavy bearing trees, especially if low in tannin (I taste them to check).
I'll convert acorns to pork (the real stuff:)) later when they start bearing heavily.

The large cupules of Valonea oak (Q.ithaburensis var.macrolepis, syn. Q.macrolepis) was traded as a source of tannin in the eastern Mediteranean.
Acorns are low in tannin and also a good fodder.
http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_ithaburensis.htm
It can be found growing in various locations in sthn. Aust.

the subject of oaks deserves it's own thread
so, back on topic....

re.Cicadas.
I used to catch and eat cicadas when I was a kid :rofl:
people thought I was a weird kid...

[Michaelangelica]

I love oaks!
...and dont forget, the edible mushrooms that oaks play host to...
I'm trialing as many oak species as I can suitable for my climate.


the subject of oaks deserves it's own thread
so, back on topic....

re.Cicadas.
I used to catch and eat cicadas when I was a kid :rofl:
people thought I was a weird kid...
You can buy Truffle inoculated trees now.

Good idea to start another thread Pls do so, maybe we could move some of these posts there

[Mike_E_from_NZ]

I think this is a wonderful idea. Having said that, I haven't got my head around actually eating the things.

Before I do, and start liking them:

How would I catch enough of the tasty ones to make it worth while? Is there a cicada trap?

Do I have to purge them before I eat them (like snails)?

[Michaelangelica]

I think this is a wonderful idea. Having said that, I haven't got my head around actually eating the things.
My problem too Mike

[Mike_E_from_NZ]

Now, for a limited time:
Learn how to leap over the next environmental catastrophe: 'Peak Protein'.
A weekend seminar where you will learn how to prepare and eat grasshoppers, cicadas and huhu grubs.
Your host Michaelangelica will demonstrate .....

[andrew curr]

peak protein is on its way as industrial ag runs out of N, ive always considered this more urgent than peak oil
MA: a bit of cement may assist your sqeamishness

[Michaelangelica]

Now, for a limited time:
Learn how to leap over the next environmental catastrophe: 'Peak Protein'.
A weekend seminar where you will learn how to prepare and eat grasshoppers, cicadas and huhu grubs.
Your host Michaelangelica will demonstrate .....
You guys are cruel

[eco4560]

And after a long hard day of tucking into alternative protein sources MA will round it all out with a lovely choko flummery.

[mischief]

haha,I cant wait

[Michaelangelica]

Grasshopper tacos and cicada ice cream create buzz
Relaxnews
Saturday, 11 June 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/dynamic/00614/000_apw20011020_839_614101t.jpg
Restaurateurs in the US have been spreading their wings recently, selling insect-inspired food items like grasshopper tacos and cicada ice items like grasshopper tacos and cicada ice cream.

In both cases, however, public health officials have been bugging out, ordering a San Francisco Mexican restaurant and ice creamery in Missouri to stop selling their fried and candied critters.

According to a report from a local TV station in San Francisco, La Oaxaquena Bakery and Restaurant had been selling deep-fried grasshopper tacos, a regional specialty of Mexico's Oaxaca region, until health inspectors ordered restaurant owner Harry Persaud to stop.

At issue was Persaud's attempts at authenticity: he sourced his grasshoppers straight from Oaxaca and there are no domestic purveyors of consumable grasshoppers with federal approval, reported ABC in San Francisco.

Patrons described the dish as resembling crunchy ‘McNuggets' and chips, with a "hint of chicken taste."

Meanwhile, earlier this month employees at an ice creamery in Columbia, Missouri decided to launch a full-scale attack on buzzing cicadas - a relative of spittlebugs and leafhoppers - by collecting the winged, bug-eyed critters from their backyards, boiling them, and coating them in brown sugar, reports The Atlantic Wire. The candied cicadas were then added to an ice cream base of brown sugar and butter.

Within hours of its launch June 1, the ice cream sold out.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/grasshopper-tacos-and-cicada-ice-cream-create-buzz-2296492.html

[andrew curr]

can you eat azolla>?

[Michaelangelica]

Fresh, Farm-Raised Grasshoppers
An estimated 80 percent of the world’s population considers insects a commonplace food source, and soon—as eating meat becomes increasingly costly to wallets and the environment—bugs may hit Western dinner tables, too.

In the Netherlands, the company Bugs Originals recently developed pesto-flavored bug nuggets and chocolate-covered muesli bars made from crushed mealworms, the larvae of the darkling beetle, reports Daniel Fromson for The Atlantic. Bugs Originals has also been successful in selling freeze-dried locusts and mealworms to local outlets. Fromson writes:

The company’s goal is to get consumers to embrace bugs as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional meat.
With worldwide demand for meat expected to nearly double by 2050, farm-raised crickets, locusts, and mealworms could provide comparable nutrition while using fewer natural resources than poultry or livestock. Crickets, for example, convert feed to body mass about twice as efficiently as pigs and five times as efficiently as cattle. Insects require less land and water—and measured per kilogram of edible mass, mealworms generate 10 to 100 times less greenhouse gas than pigs.

Here in the states, in an innovation and entrepreneurship competition this spring, the University of Chicago awarded $10,000 to student-conceived Entom Foods, reports Carrie Golus in The Core. The team, which won with their well-received grasshopper cookies, plans to start a for-profit business that produces insect meat as a sustainable food source. But implementation will require clearing some hurdles, Golus says:

Read more: http://www.utne.com/The-Sweet-Pursuit/Eating-Sustainable-Fresh-Farm-Raised-Grasshoppers.aspx#ixzz1YMRkp8ZX



Read more at: http://www.utne.com/The-Sweet-Pursuit/Eating-Sustainable-Fresh-Farm-Raised-Grasshoppers.aspx#ixzz1YMRElasE
http://www.utne.com/uploadedImages/utne/blogs/The_Sweet_Pursuit/grasshopper2.jpg

Azolla- Wiki
In addition to its traditional cultivation as a bio-fertilizer for wetland paddy (due to its ability to fix nitrogen), azolla is finding increasing use for sustainable production of livestock feed.[15] Azolla is rich in proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Studies describe feeding azolla to dairy cattle, pigs, ducks, and chickens, with reported increases in milk production, weight of broiler chickens and egg production of layers, as compared to conventional feed. One FAO study describes how azolla integrates into a tropical biomass agricultural system, reducing the need for inputs.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azolla#Human_Use

[Michaelangelica]

Western diners should get used to the idea of eating insects because by 2020 it is "inevitable" they will form an important part of our diet, according to the entomologist who heads up the world's first university centre focusing on insects as a food source.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/31/insects-uk-diet-2020

[Michaelangelica]

can you eat azolla>?
some do
http://www.ahualoa.net/chickens/azolla.html

http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2011/05/super-meal.php


Interestingly, azolla is believed to have had a significant role in reversing the greenhouse effect in the middle Eocene period, some 49 million years ago. The fern colonized the region around what was then a hot, tropical Arctic Ocean. Because of its outstanding nitrogen and carbon fixing capabilities, azolla caused the atmospheric carbon dioxide content to drop from 3500 ppm (parts per million) to just 650 ppm, eventually turning the Arctic Ocean into its present icehouse state. This biogeological event is known as the Azolla event.

Sjödin experimented with farmers, chefs and scientists to experiment with azolla in the kitchen but also to reflect on how our food is being produced today and how it can be produced in the future.
So far the artist has presented his Azolla cultivations and experimentations at Färgfabrikensin Stockholm, at Kalmar konstmuseum, RIXC Gallery in Riga, at Kultivator in rural village Dyestad, on the island Öland (Sweden) and of course on his own balcony in Stockholm.


I'm interested in the way you try to engage the public into your research about azolla. You have already exhibited this project in several art spaces. How does the azolla project take shape? Do you change strategy each time you exhibit it? cooking at Färgfabriken for example and doing something else in Riga?

. . .


Azolla has been used for biological fertilizer and as animal fodder. At some point in the booklet, you call it 'not super tasty' and you even add further on "To sum up you eat azolla on your own risk. It might be healthy and it might not." That was quite a warning! So what is your aim with the Super Meal project? To convince people that it's a valuable food resource? Or rather to enter in a broader discussion about the future of food and food production for example?

I'm trying to find out if there is any real potential in azolla as a food for humans but I haven't reached any conclusions yet and I want that to be clear. As far as I know no studies have been carried out on the effects on humans of azolla consumption so no one really knows weather it's healthy or not.

[andrew curr]

how veryvery cool

[Pakanohida]

Hmm, something to add to the aquaponics setup. Ty for sharing.