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Who eats insects? As it turns out, at least two billion people actively consume insects as part of their diets.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, caterpillars are abundantly available all year round in markets. A quick google search tells us that caterpillars have a nutty (to be more specific enoki-pine nutty) or fruitytaste and clearly Congolese are fond of them. One household, in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa, eats about 300 g of caterpillars a week on average. This equates to an astonishing 96 tonnes of caterpillars consumed in the city annually. While in African countries, insects are mostly eaten by the natives, in Southeast Asia, a plethora of insects, prepared and concocted in different ways, is increasingly marketed to tourists. It's no surprise really, considering the surge of tourists to this part of the world. And the fact that between 150-200 species of insects are consumed in Southeast Asia. The most delicious insects? Globally, beetles and caterpillars are consumed as much as all other edible insects taken together. But bees (as my brother can attest to), wasps and ants are popular too, accounting for a whopping 14% global insect consumption. Cicadas, locusts, crickets, dragonflies, flies are not spared either. While two billion people are perfectly fine with eating insects, the remaining five billion are mostly on the opposite end of the "like spectrum." It seems weird that such a common practice is frowned upon so much by others, isn't it? The disconnect, perhaps unsurprisingly, stems from the westernisation of diets and cultures. Why do most of us find eating insects disgusting? Native American tribes, for instance, had a long history of eating insects. But as Western cultures began to interact with (and sometimes decimate) them, the West imposed their own values onto the tribes, discouraging and suppressing the practice. In their eyes, eating insects was considered primitive. Some indigenous groups in sub-Saharan Africa were similarly afflictedand much more recently too. In the village of Sanambele in Mali, children routinely hunt and eat grasshoppers as snack food. In a village where many children were already at risk of suffering from kwashiorkor, a form of malnutrition caused by protein deficiency in the diet, grasshoppers offered a welcome source of protein. Sadly, since 2010, the fields where the children would hunt for grasshoppers are sprayed with pesticides to ensure maximum yield of cotton harvested from neighbouring cotton fields. The Malian farmers were advised by their Western counterparts, who took no notice of Sanambele's population and culture. Now the children are mostly forbidden to hunt and eat grasshoppers for fear that they may be intoxicated by pesticides. The insect population has plummeted anyway. Funnily enough, the five billion people who are not fond of insects, are insecteaters too, albeit unknowing ones, at the tune of "two pounds of flies, maggots and other bugs each year." Even more fascinating is that we are actually eating them as part of lunch and dinner. And the FDA knows all about it! Here's an excerpt from Kyle Hill's blog post about this at Scientific American: "The FDA's Defect Levels Handbook lays it all out. Staples like broccoli, canned tomatoes, and hops readily contain "insect fragments"heads, thoraxes, and legs and even whole insects. (I won't tell you about the rat hair limits...) Fig paste can

harbor up to 13 insect heads in 100 grams; canned fruit juices can contain a maggot for every 250 [millimetres]; 10 grams of hops can be the home for 2,500 aphids [...]" The disgust you may be experiencing right now is unfortunate. Because insects may be the key to our future. Looking at population growth alone, the global population will reach 9 billion people in 2050 and will require that we produce twice as much food than we do today. Now factor in the rise of the middle class [PDF], with its subsequent demand for protein, and harsher environmental conditions we will have to battle with, and it becomes vividly clear that our current food production systems will be taken by storm very soon. Are insects really the future of food? Last month, the UN released a comprehensive 185-page document advocating the rearing of edible insects to be used as food by humans and also as cattle feed. In the accompanying press release, Eva Muller, Director of FAO's Forest Economic Policy and Products Division, which co-authored the document, points out that "insects are pretty much untapped for their potential for food, and especially for feed." Why are insects so good? They have a high nutritional value, their cultivation is environmentally friendlier, when compared to other animal protein sources, and comes with great socio-economic benefits for a lot of people in the poorer regions of the planet. You may be surprised to learn that insects are "a highly nutritious and healthy food source with high fat, protein, vitamin, fibre and mineral content." That's a balanced diet for humans right there! And when used as animal feed, insect-based feeds are comparable to the popular soy-based or fishmeal formulae, currently used today. The Economist has a great graphic that showcases how "green" insect cultivation exactly is as well. The "green" benefits stem from the ratio of amount of food insects will eventually produce to the amount of food they consume. The greater this ratio the better since it signifies that they are fed less but produce lots. Compared to cows (and other large beasts), insects are much much more efficient a food source: "The bigger the beast, the more food, land and water is needed to produce the final edible product, resulting in higher greenhouse-gas emissions. A cow takes 8 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef, but only 40% of the cow can be eaten. Crickets require just 1.7 kg of food to produce 1 kg of meat, and 80% is considered edible." Insects also emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia than cattle or pigs and require less land for rearing. And whatnot, insects can also feed on organic byproducts such as human and animal waste, which may help reduce environmental contamination. And to cap it all, the risk that insects may transmit zoonotic infections may well be less significant than the very real risk posed by cattle, pig and poultry, from which deadly influenza strains have emerged. Importantly, consumption of insects can bring along direct and relatively rapid societal benefits. Rearing and processing of insects can be performed at a relatively artisanal stage without sophisticated machinery. This means that the poorest members of society can be encouraged to participate, giving them an avenue to employment and income, potentially lifting them out of poverty. While in theory this all looks great, implementing it is another story. Research on the health and safety aspect of the entire chain from insect rearing to processing and

storage is a must as is a comprehensive legal framework that can lead to the "full development [...] of production and international trade in insect products." We must also move past the disgust factor that is embroiled in the cultures of many. To achieve this, educational programmes and media communication strategies must be implemented rather soon. Turns out my brother was a bit of a visionary then. Eating bees is well worth being proud of. (Also, I'm a pescatarian so...) So, would you eat insects now that you know how it can help the environment, consolidate your diet and potentially pull people out of poverty? -The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations released a report on Monday called Edible Insects: Future prospects for food and feed security and since then news outlets have been looking for images of people eating bugs. Even I was on our local TV news this week commenting on the issue. The reporter who rang to seek my input asked if I would be willing to eat a live bug for the camera. I politely declined, not just because I am a vegetarian, and not because I am squeamish. As I told the reporter and camera man, if I were to eat an animal, it would most certainly be a bug. Indeed, I probably eat bugs all the time. As explained by an insect food producer to the ABC, most of us eat a quarter of a kilogram of insects by accident each year. Insects find their way into our foodstuffs no matter how hard we try to keep them out. Interestingly, if you eat organic, your rate of insect consumption is much higher. So even though I have avoided eating animal flesh (including fish) for over 30 years, I nevertheless engage in entomophagy. And so do billions of people all over the world. It is not true that the eating of insects is something that humans resort to only when they are starving. Many cultures cherish the flavours and texture of insects. Right here in Australia, indigenous people travelled to the alps each summer to feast on the bounty provided by the annual influx of bogong moths. Which, you might say, is fine for them but not likely to convince me to fry up some moths (hint: remove the wings by scorching). So what are the arguments for entomophagy, and why on earth does the United Nations want us to do this apparently disgusting thing? Eating insects is efficient, good for the environment, improves animal welfare and reduces the risk of diseases in humans. Lets go through the arguments presented in the FAO report. Efficient feed conversion. The amount of feed you need to provide to get animal based food varies greatly depending on the species. Predatory fish are expensive to raise in aquaculture because they need to be fed fish. Herbivores are more efficient, but it still takes 10 kilograms of food to produce 1 kilogram of cow, only half of which can actually be eaten. By contrast, 10 kilograms of feed will produce up to 9 kilograms of insects, of which over 95% can be eaten. If we want to find a way to produce more protein with less, insects are the way to go. Food inputs from waste. Now lets talk about what kind of food we give our livestock. If we have to catch fish to feed our aquaculture fish we are still dependent on wild caught protein. If we grow grain to feed our cattle, we still have to use land and fertiliser and water. But if we choose to raise insects we can feed them our waste products. Think about it, flies grow on manure. Other insects could grow on agricultural waste products high in cellulose. This transcends efficiency. Growing insects for food could actually clean up the mess made by growing other food. Less greenhouse gases. Cattle produce so many greenhouse gases that a kilogram of beef has an impact similar to driving 250 kilometres in a car. The only insects that even produce methane as a waste product are cockroaches, termites and scarab beetles. Getting our protein from insects would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Water savings. Agriculture consumes 70% of water worldwide, and the production of animal protein requires 100 times more water than protein from grain. This includes the water used to grow the grain to feed the animal, also known as

virtual water. By this method of calculation, 1 kg of chicken requires 3500 litres of water and 1 kg of beef requires between 22,000 and 43,000 litres of water. Insects need far less, and can be grown throughout the drought. Animal welfare. All of our concerns about live animal exports and battery farm hens are based on the need to reduce animal suffering. High density of livestock is necessary for commercial food production but is undesirable from an animal welfare point of view. Insects, on the other hand, are naturally gregarious. Many of them prefer to live in high densities and killing them humanely is possible and easy. No more nightmare film clips from abattoirs. Reduced risk of disease. Think about the infections that move from animals to people and have frightened all of us: swine flu, bird flu, mad cow disease. These infections are called zoonotics, and they spread because we are similar enough to our livestock to be able to catch their diseases. Insects have a much lower risk of passing disease on to us. In fact, it is difficult to find many disadvantages to eating insects. We dont even have to get over our aversion to biting into a crunchy morsel with too many legs. Factories are already growing insects to produce protein powders which can be used to supplement foods we already enjoy. The only downside I could find is that eating fresh insects collected in the wild puts you at risk of consuming pesticides. Which is one of the reasons I did not want to eat a bug for the camera we did not have any insects from a trusted source. The other reason is the backlash that could result from the disgust factor. Yes, it would make good TV viewing, because it is shocking and kind of gross. But if we really want people to eat more bugs (and we do!) then I dont think we want to give the impression that we will have to start picking crickets up off the lawn and popping them in our mouths. No, we are much more sophisticated than that. Insect protein will be produced by reputable growers who will care for their charges and ensure a high quality product. Make no mistake, this is a growth industry. In future, entomophagy will be something we do by design, instead of by accident.
his BBC documentary explored whether eating insects could provide a real solution to the global food crisis; with 40 tonnes of insects per human in the world. The presenter visited both Thailand and Cambodia where hunting and eating insects are part of everyday life. Through interviewing school teachers, market stall owners, farmers and UN representatives, the presenter attempts to examine the advantages and disadvantages; to determine whether this potential food source is truly viable or just a gimmick for tourists. The United Nations FAO Department is working on a movement to make insects an acceptable food source across the world, with the aim to gradually move away from meat consumption which draws vast amounts of grain out of the global food chain. With one thousand nine hundred thriving edible species across the world, insects are portraye d as a superfood. They have a high protein content, making them nutrient rich and very healthy. All insects reproduce quickly and are able to attain a high body mass from the little food they consume. Their cold blooded nature ensures that insects do not waste energy keeping warm. Therefore, insects are twenty per cent more efficient than beef. Cricket farming has rapidly evolved over the last twenty years and is currently capable of producing tonnes of insects per day. In countries such as Cambodia where forty per cent of children are malnourished, insects prove an important source of protein. Hunting insects, mainly grasshoppers, even protects local crops eliminating the need for pesticides whilst providing a source of income to the locals. The presenter encountered many forms of insect delicacies throughout the programme. His first, in a market catering for curious tourists, was less than appetising. The chosen fried water bug seemed inedible proving hard to digest and leaving a lingering taste. However, the local markets produced an array of more appealing dishes, providing a pleasant culinary experience. These emerging stalls are becoming a good source of income, earning the owner takings in excess of the minimum wage. The question remains whether we can we get over the mind-set that insects are dirty and disgusting and embrace other cultures; joining the two billion people who already include insects in their diet. However, even Thailand are unable to supply their own demand; increasingly having to rely on insect imports from neighbouring countries. Importing insects worldwide could therefore potentially negate their original negligible carbon footprint. I was left unconvinced that this solution to the global food crisis is for everyone.

ood is the foundation of human live and people cannot survive without it. Food security is a vital issue facing the governments around the world. However, food shortage is becoming increasingly severe in this day and age. There are several reasons which led to the universal food shortage and they are interconnected to each other. Increasing world population, extreme weather and the wide spread use of biofuels are the main causes of worldwide shortage of food. These factors lead to food price rises rapidly. Global food crisis is being compounded by several causes such as growing population, extreme weather and famers switching out of cereals to grow agro-fuels crops. According to Vidal (2007), There is no one cause but a lot of things are coming together to lead to this. Its hard to separate out the factors. Global population is continuing growing nowadays; Eating habits

are changed in many regions all over the world, especially in China and India; Extreme weather is caused by global climate anomaly which is related droughts and floods in many key production regions, such as a years-long drought in Australia; The wider use of agro-fuel led to divert food crops to grow biofuels crops; Agriculture costs are much higher, which are caused by soaring oil price, limited farmland and water. Population growth is one of the most important causes of food shortage. According to Gritzner and Charles (2010, 60), By mid century there will be some 9 billion peoplean increase of 2 billion more people than todayeating at the global dining table. This means that demand for food will continue to increase over the coming decade.

Fact is, the food crisis of 2008 never really went away. True, food riots didnt break out in poor countries during 2009 and warehouse stores liThe global food crisis is perhaps the most daunting phenomenon facing the twenty fist century; not least because of the millions of people that will die of starvation but also because it serves as a reminder that while the developed nations are increasing in wealth , not enough is being done to conquer some of the worlds problems. The reality is made worse by the fact that there is enough food to feed all the people of the world, and for richer nations its a matter of whether or not feeding the worlds hungry population is an important enough priority to take on. Of course tackling hunger will take a lot of effort from Governments and the United Nations, other important issues will no doubt be a little neglected however, by solving the food crisis many other concerns such as mass epidemics may also be solved. The last forty years have seen massive progression in both science and technology, but these enhancements have only improved the life of people living in developed countries. Is it time now for richer nations and rich people alike to step back from growth of the economy, and move towards equal distribution of wealth. It is tempting to argue that the worlds food crisis arises because there is not enough food or at least because there is not enough food in a particular part of the world; contrary to this argument hunger and starvation generally arise because people are not able to acquire food by not being able to purchase them. Developing nations often have high levels of unemployment were people simply arent making any money to buy foods. Primitive technology may mean that a worker is not able to make enough produce, and in turn not receive enough amount of money to purchase necessity foods. Political social and economic discrimination also plays a part in Poverty and Hunger. Countries such as India have caste systems that suppress many communities while the ke Costco didnt ration./ World Hunger

Facts: Causes, Effects and Solutions

This year, nearly 9 million children younger than five years old will die needlessly, more than half from hunger-related causes.1 Few of these deaths are related to outright starvation, but rather to common illnesses (such as diarrhea, malaria and measles) that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger.2 Freedom from Hunger concentrates its services in the world's poorest nations, where an overwhelming 32% are moderately to severely stunted seriously below normal height for one's age.2 In the developing world, more than 1.4 billion people currently live below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day.
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Among this group of poor people, many have problems obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their families. As a result, 1.02 billion people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth.4 Undernourishment negatively affects peoples health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well -being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation.5 Economically, the effort of constantly securing food consumes valuable time and energy, allowing poor people less time for work and earning income.4 Pregnant women and new mothers who breastfeed infants and children are among the most at risk of undernourishment.4

1. Insects could be the solution to world hunger. There are forty tons of insects to every human, thats more than enough for an ongoing "all you can eat" insect buffet. 2. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation are taking this idea seriously. They are planning to hold a world congress on it later this year. 3. They are naturally sustainable. Mealworms, for example, survive on waste wheat chaff rather than guzzling grain like our favourite meat sources. 4. It is easy to farm them on a large scale without damaging the environment.

6. They are highly nutritious. Caterpillars, for example, provide more protein and more iron than the same quantity of minced beef.

7. Many other countries are already eating insects. Cambodians eat tarantulas, in Thailand they deep fry crickets.
The UK are way behind.

8. There are over 1,000 varieties of insects edible to humans. Surely theres something for everyone. 9. British Mexican restaurant Wahaca has already started experimenting. They are currently selling chilli-fried grasshoppers. 10. There is a distinct lack of emotional attachment - unless you were particularly taken with A Bugs Life.

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