Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/06/invertebrate-cuisine.html
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Tenebrio molitor diverged from Homo sapiens 797 MYA. Guilt-free, indeed.
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The first bugs I knowingly ate were chocolate covered ants. They were tasty. I don’t have a problem with eating insects. I’m not huge on eating arachnids because I see them as allies against the mosquitos, but needs must and it’s not like I’m avoiding their crustacean cousins.
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My gag reflex was dwindling, for sure,
Um, good for you.
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Or we could go mostly vegetarian and have a meat day once a week instead? I think this is easier and less complex as figuring out how to make mealworms taste or look good to the human eye. An apple looks good already unless you’re an alien for another world.
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We´re already eating bugs for years…
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I would rather die, but thank you just the same.
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I’ll just sign up now for the Matrix, thanks.
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The environmental impact of meat, at least in the United States, is minimal. Hundreds of articles paint an alarming picture, but they apply numbers from places like Brazil and Indonesia, where forests are being destroyed for agriculture, as if they are applicable to other areas in the world. They are not.
The EPA says the entire U.S. agricultural sector is responsible for only 9% of our GHG-equivalent emissions, and the majority of that 9% is for raising crops for humans, not animals. And, yes, those figures include methane, and NO2, and the shipping and processing of meat and dairy products.
And meat is not very water intensive, either. Don’t be misled by statistics popular in the media which have erroneously counted natural rainfall on huge tracts of American prairies and grasslands as “water use”. Sure, livestock drink water - but they pee it out too. It’s called the Water Cycle for a reason.
Let’s put this into perspective:
Cows in the U.S. are responsible for 2.6%, IIRC, of our GHG-eq emissions, none of it as CO2. Most of it is methane belched up from their ruminant stomachs when digesting cellulose from grass. Grass which is grown on grassland which, btw, will not support use as cropland or forest. Half of that methane comes from aqueous non-aerobic manure pits used by big beef stockyards, and is a practice which should be stopped. Instead, that manure could be incorporated aerobically into our soils, acting as a carbon sink, not a methane producer. The other half of cow’s methane output is from belching. But if all cows disappeared, the grass they normally eat and belch would grow anyway, and rot, and produce - guess what? - CO2 and methane.
So, potentially, cows could represent about 1% of our GHG-eq emissions. Fossil fuels cause about 90% of our GHG emissions. That put the need to eat insects into perspective?
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“After a while you don’t want to vomit as much.”
As ringing an endorsement as I’ve ever heard! Sign me up for some nightmare salad and bugged hummus!
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But in the Matrix, you just think you’re not eating bugs.
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My gag reflex was dwindling, for sure
That’ll look good on the packet.
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Feeling less urge to vomit, or actually vomiting and just producing less? Eating less of it is a sure way to reduce the volume of vomit. That’s gonna be my plan.
You can have my portion. I’m not that hungry.
I was very disappointed to find out the Joburg Prawn Festival involved cooking actual prawns and not these guys
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Have you ever eaten shrimp? Lobster?
Just sayin’ … 
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Just went to the science museum with my family and some friends from out of town. They have a vending machine there that is all insect-based foods. One of our friend’s three-years-olds had the candied earthworms, my daughter had the cricket in an orange lollipop and I have yet to crack open the big purchase:
My daughter and I like the cricket flavored like potato chips. She was not as happy with the lollipop. She said the cricket in it didn’t taste right.
I’ll update once we try the rhino beetles.
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Humanity: Hey insects, we’re coming for you next. *lustfully licking their lips *
Bugs: chirp … chirp, chirp - Oh shit !
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You’d think that people (like me) who eagerly crack open and scarf down boiled/broiled shrimp and lobster would have no problems with eating insects… but nnnnnoooooo!
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