For example, for every kg of high-quality animal protein produced, animals are fed about 6 kg of vegetable protein. It is estimated that A increase in agricultural expenditurewill result in overflowing as fertilizer and animal feed 30% increase in beef, pork and poultry prices by 2050. It is also thought that these prices may increase further 18-21% is due to climate change and reduced agricultural productivitythis will increase feed costs and increase the need for alternative protein sources.
Growing demand for edible insects
around 2000 species of insects It is eaten all over the world in African, South American and Asian countries. Thailand has a particularly thriving insect industry 20,000 households produces 7500 tons of insects per year. But many people in Europe and the United States are still hesitant to eat insects excellent taste, environmental and nutritional benefits, misses the opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of their diet.
Between 2019 and 2021, I struggled to get edible grasshoppers while living in England. After seeing pictures of this delicious snack all over my social media feeds shared by Ugandan friends celebrating the start of the grasshopper season in December 2021, I was craving grasshoppers. My search for Ugandan flavor took me to east and west London and Leeds, but I couldn’t find any.
Indroneel Chatterjee, a consumer psychology and marketing researcher at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, says people looking for edible insects in the UK should start with crickets and mealworms, which are easier to find than grasshoppers. “There could be supply chain issues that are limiting [the] existence [of grasshoppers] because they are not currently mass-produced in the UK, which makes them difficult to find,” says Chatterjee.
In some countries, there are concerns that widespread wild harvesting of insects may only be possible put more pressure on declining insect populations already threatened by climate change, disease and pesticides.
However, there is a growing number of companies specializing in the cultivation of edible insects in Europe and the United States. Bug Farm, based in St Davids, Wales, sells the UK’s first edible insect farm. wide variety of insect snacks, including chocolate chip cookies made from crickets and spiced orange and laverbread buffalo bug biscuits. It also sells cricket powder and whole cricket for home cooking and baking.
Bug Farm believes that encouraging children to try insects can increase their appeal. “Children, in particular, are very open-minded, so we believe that working with them is how we can change attitudes in the long term: they are the buyers of the future,” says Elinor Philp, who works at Bug Farm.
