I remember an old issue of Omni magazine that had an article describing how we would be riding about on giant genetically engineered bugs in the future… I seem to recall the they would be engineered to have a lump on their back that could be hollowed out to use as the passenger cabin.
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It is usually best not to ask those sorts of questions – it probably actually comes from Squeaky Farms.
Actually, once I ate cricket chocolate, and I really loved the taste, but the chitinous parts were annoying, I had to be spitting. Not nice, but, nothing to kill the product, IMHO.
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I dunno, man. People like their meat.There’s a a reason why most Dystopian fiction features the super-abundance of soy-based foods.
I think the idea of having your life ruled by a need for efficiency is kind of scary and definitely uncomfortable for many of us. It’s one thing when it’s something like fuel, because we can adapt without too much grumbling to a world where we burn fewer fossil fuels in favor of cleaner alternatives.
But when it comes to things like food - there you’re mucking around with deep mojo. Food is cultural. It’s a huge part of a person’s identity. Yet even more than that, it’s also biological. Your genetics actually have pretty substantial influence over the kinds of foods you enjoy.
For example, folks from Scandinavian stock have a greater tolerance of dairy and alcohol, and a lower tolerance of “heat” and spice. Yet the reverse is true for many First Nations people - their ancestors lived for millenia without cows and goats and booze, so they don’t have the same tolerances for those foods. Yet at the same time, they did live with peppers and spices, and consequently they have a tolerance for those foods that Scandinavians typically lack, with their ancestors not having had access to such things.
Eatting insects might be an efficient choice, but for many it isn’t a comfortable one, and it may not even be a realistic one depending on how people’s genetic predilections pan out. For cultures that have long eatten insects, I’m certain they’re adapted to it both mentally and physically - but for those that aren’t adapted, it may be more than they are willing or even biologically able to put up with.
But at the same time, food is just a collection of chemicals and structures - it’s just body fuel. I find projects like Soylent and cricket protein fascinating because they are just finding different ways to create fuel. Now that we are a more connected planet and have a great understanding of what the body needs, why not experiment a bit with known methods like eating insects? Insects seem like an efficient way to turn sun/soil/water/plant energy into a more complex protein, much more efficient than growing/slaughtering/processing/shipping an entire cow. And maybe crickets are tasty to us mutants, I haven’t tried them yet.
My imagination strays to thinking of space colonization and easy to transport colonies of low maintenance insects that can be quickly multiplied with whatever plant source to create human food. Much easier than trying to lug around an collection of edible red/white meat animals.
That all being said, I would never want to get rid of the culture and identify that food brings nor remove the local flavor that each geographic region has. A future world removed from the fat of the land where we all wear gray smocks and eat nothing by tasteless cricket gruel seems like a bland hell.
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This seems like a really bad idea. Not because bugs aren’t delicious, but because industrial bug farms will soon be churning out 10-foot tall super crickets. And when they escape, we’re fucked, because Godzilla isn’t real.
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We all have…
Wheat Flour Insect filth (AOAC 972.32) Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams DEFECT SOURCE: Insect fragments - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Rodent hair - post harvest and/or processing contamination with animal hair or excreta. SIGNIFICANCE: AestheticSource:FDA Defect Levels Handbook
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Having some parts per million insect contamination doesn’t make something insect flour. I guess the FDA will have to set guidelines as to how much wheat flour can contaminate a batch of cricket flour now, because Celiacs might use it as a substitute.
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You have been eating homeopathic insect flour – much more insecty than cricket flour.
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