{"id":12537,"date":"2013-05-15T12:09:50","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T10:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=12537\/"},"modified":"2018-06-26T14:29:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T12:29:28","slug":"insects-the-food-of-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/insects-the-food-of-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Insects: The food of the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is nutritious, delicious, and has six legs? If we could collectively get over our disgust at the six legged critters, insects could become a staple of the human diet, along with fish, and other kinds of meat, a new UN report argues.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Food and Agriculture organisation FAO hailed members of the insect world as an under-utilised resource, in the report which was released this Monday. By 2050, world population is slated to reach 9 billion, arable land is shrinking due to climate change, and oceans are increasingly overfished. Incorporating bugs into our diet could alleviate some of those problems, the report argues.<\/p>\n

“Food we are currently consuming is artificially cheap. Negative environmental externalities aren’t factored into food prices, and farm subsidies artificially lower prices. We are facing a crisis; if the price of meat was increased to reflect its true costs, people would be forced to consider alternative options.”, says Afton Halloran, one of the paper’s coauthors, a UCPH alumnus to the University Post, who has also done her fieldwork on cricket farms in Thailand.<\/a><\/p>\n

From pet feed, to human food<\/h2>\n

For one thing, as insects are cold-blooded, they are efficient in converting feed into food, according to the report. On average, grasshoppers require 12 times less feed to produce a kilogram of edible mass than cattle. They also produce fewer greenhouse gasses, and can be fed on organic waste streams.<\/p>\n

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Efficiency and environmental issues aside, eating bugs is a good idea for various other reasons. They are higher in ‘good fats’ than other meats, and are rich in proteins, calcium, iron, and zinc. They can be a low-tech, low-capital investment, which can offer entry to even the poorest members of society. Last, but not least, insects can be delicious: they are already a part of many regional diets, and are oftentimes considered delicacies, the report argues.<\/p>\n

“The infrastructure to mass-produce insects is already in place. They are currently utilised in both the pet feed industry, and in the fishing industry, where they are sold as fishing bait”, Halloran says.<\/p>\n

Gourmet grasshoppers<\/h2>\n

According to the report, the main barrier to a wider adoption of insects as a food source, is cultural: other than the silkworm, bees, and the cochineal \u2014 used to extract red dye \u2014 insects are largely left alone in the West. This can change, though.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t had a food culture incorporating insects in the West; people are just afraid to eat insects and that is certainly a problem, though not an insurmountable one. Star chefs are already attempting to incorporate insects into their cooking. There is certainly a lot of space for innovation in the gastronomic world. Grasshoppers could be ground and incorporated into other food products. The Nordic Food Lab [non-profit institution exploring traditional and modern gastronomies, founded by Noma’s superstar chef Rene Redzepi and gastronomic entrepreneur Claus Meyer -ed.] is working to transform insects into gourmet food”, Halloran says to the University Post.<\/p>\n

Noma, the world’s top restaurant in 2010-2012, served ants grown in Copenhagen and shipped to London, when the restaurant briefly relocated to Britain’s capital during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Simultaneously, insects are a staple of much of the developing world.<\/p>\n

universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n

Do you have a good story? We would like to hear from you<\/a>. In the meantime, like us on Facebook <\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories.<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bugs reduce pollution, increase nutrition, and should seriously be considered as a food source: This is according to a UN report with University of Copenhagen contribitions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1331],"class_list":["post-12537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-best-of-university-post-2009-2016","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nInsects: The food of the future<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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reduce pollution, increase nutrition, and should seriously be considered as a food source: This is according to a UN report with University of Copenhagen contribitions","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":false,"contributors":[{"use_registered_user":false,"user":false,"contributor_name":"by University Post newsroom","contributor_title":"\u00a0","contributor_image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>What is nutritious, delicious, and has six legs? If we could collectively get over our disgust at the six legged critters, insects could become a staple of the human diet, along with fish, and other kinds of meat, a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fao.org\/forestry\/edibleinsects\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new UN report argues.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Food and Agriculture organisation FAO hailed members of the insect world as an under-utilised resource, in the report which was released this Monday. By 2050, world population is slated to reach 9 billion, arable land is shrinking due to climate change, and oceans are increasingly overfished. Incorporating bugs into our diet could alleviate some of those problems, the report argues.<\/p>\n<p>“Food we are currently consuming is artificially cheap. Negative environmental externalities aren’t factored into food prices, and farm subsidies artificially lower prices. We are facing a crisis; if the price of meat was increased to reflect its true costs, people would be forced to consider alternative options.”, says Afton Halloran, one of the paper’s coauthors, a UCPH alumnus to the University Post, who has also <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/article\/down-cricket-farm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">done her fieldwork on cricket farms in Thailand.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>From pet feed, to human food<\/h2>\n<p>For one thing, as insects are cold-blooded, they are efficient in converting feed into food, according to the report. On average, grasshoppers require 12 times less feed to produce a kilogram of edible mass than cattle. They also produce fewer greenhouse gasses, and can be fed on organic waste streams.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dme-external-teaser dme-external-teaser-3\">\n<div class=\"image\">\n<div class=\"dme-image dme-image-center dme-image-preset-0\"><a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/universitetsavisen.dk\/node\/28084\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"\" src=\"\/old_files\/a_mound_of_crickets_ready_for_packaging.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"title\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"teaser_text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Efficiency and environmental issues aside, eating bugs is a good idea for various other reasons. They are higher in ‘good fats’ than other meats, and are rich in proteins, calcium, iron, and zinc. They can be a low-tech, low-capital investment, which can offer entry to even the poorest members of society. Last, but not least, insects can be delicious: they are already a part of many regional diets, and are oftentimes considered delicacies, the report argues.<\/p>\n<p>“The infrastructure to mass-produce insects is already in place. They are currently utilised in both the pet feed industry, and in the fishing industry, where they are sold as fishing bait”, Halloran says.<\/p>\n<h2>Gourmet grasshoppers<\/h2>\n<p>According to the report, the main barrier to a wider adoption of insects as a food source, is cultural: other than the silkworm, bees, and the cochineal \u2014 used to extract red dye \u2014 insects are largely left alone in the West. This can change, though.<\/p>\n<p>“We haven’t had a food culture incorporating insects in the West; people are just afraid to eat insects and that is certainly a problem, though not an insurmountable one. Star chefs are already attempting to incorporate insects into their cooking. There is certainly a lot of space for innovation in the gastronomic world. Grasshoppers could be ground and incorporated into other food products. The Nordic Food Lab [non-profit institution exploring traditional and modern gastronomies, founded by Noma’s superstar chef Rene Redzepi and gastronomic entrepreneur Claus Meyer -ed.] is working to transform insects into gourmet food”, Halloran says to the University Post.<\/p>\n<p>Noma, the world’s top restaurant in 2010-2012, served ants grown in Copenhagen and shipped to London, when the restaurant briefly relocated to Britain’s capital during the 2012 Summer Olympics. Simultaneously, insects are a staple of much of the developing world.<\/p>\n<p>universitypost@adm.ku.dk<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you have a good story? We would like to <a href=\"http:\/\/universitypost.dk\/article\/how-share-stories-university-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hear from you<\/a>. In the meantime, like us on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Facebook <\/a> for features, guides and tips on upcoming events and follow us on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniversityPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Twitter<\/a> for links to other Copenhagen academia news stories.<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}],"feature_color":""},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":830,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":1331,"name":"Best of University Post 2009-2016","slug":"best-of-university-post-2009-2016","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1331,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":32,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11485,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/verna_hastings_-_silkworm_larvae_at_a_restaurant_in_south_korea.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71156,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12537\/revisions\/71156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}