Entomophagy is derived from the Greek words ‘entomon’ (insect) and ‘phagein’ (to devour) – and the fact that it has its own term gives some indication of the importance and history of entomophagy. Cave paintings found in Spain dating from 30,000 to 9,000 BC show edible insects and their larvae, while early Biblical examples include John the Baptist surviving on a diet of honey and locusts.
Basically, eating insects isn’t a new phenomenon or novelty fad. In fact, insects are today commonly eaten in 80% of the world’s nations. Roughly 2 billion people worldwide eat insects regularly – that means someone, somewhere is tucking into a tasty insect snack right now.
There are more than 1,900 species of insect that have been identified as edible to humans, but there are bound to be thousands more that we just haven’t got around to trying yet. The most commonly eaten insects are crickets, grasshoppers, ants, beetles (and their larvae such as mealworms and buffalo worms), and several species of caterpillars (including mopani and bamboo worms).
Before setting up our edible insect company Grub, I went travelling around the world in search of traditional insect cuisine, and did plenty of research on insect-eating nations. I wanted to know who eats insects, which insects they eat, how they cook them and how they perceive them as part of their national cuisine. My journey took me to many remote and interesting places with cultures that have been embracing insect-eating for centuries, millennia even.
I discovered that in Mexico, ‘chapulines’ (grasshoppers) are an extremely popular ingredient, especially in Oaxaca City where they’re fried (often with chilli) and eaten as an everyday snack by adults and children alike. In Japan, a favourite is the zazamushi (which literally translates to ‘insect that lives at the bottom of a river’); it’s cooked in sweet soy sauce and served with sake. And in southern African countries, mopani worms can demand a higher price (gram for gram) than beef. In Bali I ate boiled dragonflies in coconut milk with rice (cooked this way, they have a similar texture and taste to soft-shell crab). And in Thailand I visited a school where, during their lunch break, children caught crickets in UV traps set up around the grounds. They’d then keep them to be cooked with pandanus leaves and pepper as a mid-afternoon snack.
My strangest eating experience had to be in Cambodia in a town called Skuon. This place is famous for its tarantula population and a human population that like to catch and eat them (I’m aware that spiders aren’t insects, but they tend to be categorised within entomophagy). The hunting technique is ancient and is still preserved today: a homemade fishing rod (string on a stick) with honeycomb at the end is dangled down tarantula holes. When the spider bites the honey it becomes stuck and can be lifted out. The hunting is usually done by young children who then sell the spiders at the market for pocket money. I admit to a mild case of arachnophobia, so I was dreading the experience of tucking into them as a meal. But I boldly bought a few beers and tray of roasted tarantulas from the local market to share with my hosts – when I saw them devour them with a dipping chilli sauce, I was encouraged. I thought the legs tasted nice (a little like the crispy bit of a chicken wing), but I struggled with the bloated abdomen which had the texture, not the taste, of a profiterole. It sagged and then a bitter cream oozed out – it was the part the locals enjoyed the most.
The fact that this tarantula abdomen was the locals’ favourite bit is quite revealing. One of the questions sceptics like to ask is: why eat insects in the West when we have affordable meat? This is making the assumption that people only eat insects because they can’t afford pork, beef or chicken. In reality, insects (or tarantula abdomens) are often seen as a treat and a delicacy in these countries, not a food eaten out of necessity. It is simply a learned behaviour to eat (or not to eat) insects.
The eating experiences I had abroad are just a few of the many ways in which insects are enjoyed by different cultures around the world today, some of which Grub believes can be easily adopted by our own culture here in the West. Probably not the tarantulas, though – at least not just yet.
We certainly hope that by making insects easy to buy (and taking the fear out of knowing whether they’re suitable for human consumption), Grub is able to encourage people to try edible insects and experiment with them in everyday cooking.
The rise of insect eating
You might have noticed the number of news reports on entomophagy increase over the past few years. Or perhaps you’ve heard about one of the world’s most celebrated chefs, René Redzepi, experimenting with ants on his menu at Noma in Copenhagen. Redzepi even tasked the researchers at the Nordic Food Lab (an organisation he co-founded to investigate ‘food diversity and deliciousness’) to explore insect gastronomy. Edible insect companies have sprung up around the world, and now there is a business and brand for everything entomophagy-related, from cricket farms to cricket-flour protein bars.
This interest, buzz and entrepreneurship didn’t happen overnight. Back in 2009, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) started advocating a move towards eating insects. A global meeting in Chiang Mai in Thailand championed insects as the most viable alternative source of protein to meat because of their ecological friendliness. Often, it can take several years before what makes sense to scientists makes sense to (and is embraced by) the public at large. But people are starting to understand the considerable benefits. If you still need convincing, we’ve broken down the growing argument for eating insects here…
For starters, farming insects has many environmental advantages over rearing other animals for food. Farming insects creates significantly less greenhouse gas and ammonia than other livestock. Insects are also more very efficient at converting feed to protein because they are cold-blooded, so they don’t need to burn calories to keep themselves warm. And they don’t need anywhere near as much feed: to produce the same amount of protein, crickets consume 12 times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and half as much as chickens.
But perhaps the biggest eco benefit is the preservation of water. Fresh water is the world’s most precious resource and its increasing scarcity means that a barrel of it has at times demanded a higher price than oil. Agriculture, including the rearing of livestock, has been known to take priority over drinking water in some of the world’s poorest countries. This shocking fact is even more shocking when you drill down into the statistics. Producing one kilo of grain-fed beef requires roughly 13,000 to 15,000 litres of fresh water – that’s 2,100 litres for a 150-gram burger. In contrast, one kilo of cricket protein only requires eight litres of water. That’s a huge difference!
But entomophagy isn’t just about the environment. We often hear the term ‘superfood’ being bandied about, but insects really are just that, and people are cottoning on to their nutritious value. Insects are extremely high in protein: the freeze-dried crickets Grub sells contain 69% protein, and our buffalo worms are 56% protein. Compare this to chicken, which on average contains 30% protein (but is often the protein source of choice among gym-goers). Insects contain many or all of the nine essential amino acids (depending on which insect you’re eating). For example, mealworms contain as much (gram for gram) omega 3 and 6 as fish such as tuna. Insects also contain vital minerals: cricket flour contains more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach.
There is a wealth of information out there on the eco and nutritional benefits of farming and eating insects, but we won’t go on about that any more here. This book is all about getting you cooking insects and loving the taste. And that’s why Grub focuses on providing simple and tasty recipes for insect beginners (or pros!), and we hope you find this cookbook an entomophagy inspiration.
Written by Shami Radia and Nel Whippey in "Eat Grub - The Ultimate Insect Cookbook", Frances Lincoln, London, UK, extracts chapters 1-2. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.