🚀 go-pugleaf

Many of us here in North America are a little squeamish when it comes to 
eating insects. The creepy crawly legs. The crunchy shells. The�wiggling.

Bleargh.

Lots and lots of people eat insects and think they�re delicious
For much the rest of the world, insects are a good source of protein and 
fat. In fact, according to this article from National Geographic, those 
of us who find entomophagy icky are in the minority, globally speaking.

And this isn�t a recent trend. Gourmands in ancient Rome ate specially-
raised beetle larvae. The ancient Greeks relished cicadas.

Insects remain an important traditional food for cultures across Asia, 
South America and Africa. For example, in Ghana winged termites are 
fried, roasted or made into bread. In Japan, fly larvae are prepared with 
soy sauce and sugar. And in Australia, raw or lightly roasted witchetty 
grubs (actually a collective term for a variety of insect larvae) are 
still a popular traditional staple.

A surprisingly healthy choice

There are good reasons that insects have remained a popular element of 
many cuisines. For one thing, most are better sources of protein and 
healthy fat than familiar-to-us beef, pork or chicken. According to 
National Geographic, hamburger is roughly 18 percent protein and 18 
percent fat, most of which is saturated. Grasshopper, on the other hand, 
is 60 percent protein and only six percent fat, most of which is 
unsaturated. One hundred grams of silkworm larvae contain a full 100 
percent of the daily recommended allowance of copper, zinc, thiamine and 
riboflavin.

Environmentally friendly, too

Farming insects is also arguably far more environmentally friendly and 
efficient than conventional meat sources. According to Marcel Dicke, a 
Dutch entomologist, ten kilograms of feed produces one kilogram of beef, 
three kilograms of pork and five kilograms of chicken. That same amount 
of feed produces nine kilograms of locusts. (Take a look at Dicke�s TED 
talk on eating insects.)