Sustainability| 1 min read

The UN Wants You To Eat Insects To End World Hunger And Save The Planet

According to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, eating insects can help reduce world hunger by reducing pollution and boosting nutrition. More than 2 billion people globally supplement their diets with bugs.

“Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint,” according to the report.

Insects are quite nutritious, often very high in protein and fat. According to Montana State University, caterpillar’s, gram for gram, have more protein and iron than minced beef. And raising insects for food is way more efficient than traditional livestock.

Crickets, for example, require 12 times less feed than cows to produce the same amount of protein and produce far fewer environmentally harmful byproducts, like greenhouse gases and waste.

Already, insects are a delicacy all over the world and around 2 billion people actively eat them, which may come as a surprise. The report hopes the food industry can help “raise the status of insects” by introducing them to recipes and adding them to the menus of restaurants.

“The use of insects on a large scale as a feed ingredient is technically feasible, and established companies in various parts of the world are already leading the way,” it adds.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “Ugh, gross” at the prospect of eating insects, but it’s not all that bad. I once had garlic roasted crickets and it was pretty palatable. The crickets didn’t taste like much. It was crunchy. 10/10 would eat again.

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