Dishes made from edible insects may look unappetizing. However, these tiny crawlies might become human's future food.
Edible insects "contain high-quality protein, vitamins and amino acids for humans," according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Compared to other traditional protein sources, eating insects does not have much impact on Earth, according to CNBC.
These edible insects have "high food conversion rate," FAO stated. Crickets for example, require "six times less feed than cattle." Aside from this, edible insects emit less greenhouse gases and they can grow on organic waste.
Ynsect, a company in France is currently looking to utilize the potential of edible insects on a large scale. It has been working to find the best types of edible insects that can produce powdered insect protein.
"Ynsect has been working on many insects in its research and development lab, but has selected one species to go on the market first, it's a small beetle, called mealworm," Antoine Hubert, CEO of Ynsect, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy. "We can find it almost anywhere in the world. Its composition is really good for fish and poultry, they really like it," Hubert added. Currently, Ynsect is focusing on the fish farming market.
Eating edible insects is rare in the developed world. However, edible insects are popular to many developing regions like Africa, Asia and Central and South America, according to an article from Insects Are Food.
Edible insects are served for its nutritional values as well as taste and these dishes are usually served in Vietnam, Thailand, China, Cambodia, Africa, Mexico, New Guinea and Columbia to name a few. Popular edible insects are grasshoppers, crickets, ants, silkworm, waxworm, mopani worm, and in some countries, scorpions and tarantulas.
FAO has estimated that there are 1,462 species of recorded edible insects. There still hundreds or thousands of species that have not been tried or even discovered yet.
