Dutch scientist wants bugs added to Western diets.

[Ross]

THE world's food crisis could be eased if Westerners included insects in their diets to make up some of their protein needs.

Dutch scientist Arnold Van Huis, a professor of entomology at Wageningen University, said bugs are nutritious and full of goodness, and added that if people in the West could override their culturally-indoctrinated sense of disgust, the environment would benefit.

Prof Van Huis said a population explosion and rising living standards caused a "meat crisis" Sky News reported.

"Twenty years ago, people ate just 20 kilograms of meat, now it is 50 kilograms. In 20 years from now, it will be even more, and we will soon run out of planet," said Prof Van Huis, who also claims that bugs taste good and are packed full of vitamins.



Bear Grylls would not agree that they taste good...


Insects are often eaten to bulk out the diet in Asia, where hot climates make them a bountiful foodstuff.

But if they were farmed on an industrial scale, they would be an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat, he said.


GMO bugs...No thanks...

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/dutch-scientist-wants-bugs-added-to-western-diets/story-e6frfku0-1225976204567#ixzz19APXcLGI

[astrid]

see this Ted talk here also , on the same subject...

http://www.ted.com/talks/marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects.html


Marcel Dicke likes challenging preconceptions. He demonstrated that plants, far from being passive, send SOS signals by emitting volatile substances when under attack by pests, attracting carnivorous insects to eat their enemies. Dicke opened a new field of research and won the NWO-Spinoza award, the Dutch Nobel prize. Now he wants to change Western minds about insects -- especially insects as food.

"People hate bugs, but without insects we might not even exist," he says. Dicke's PR crusade began in the 1990s, as a lecture series. Then his team made world headlines when they convinced 20,000 people to attend an insect-eating festival in Waginegen. Today, Dicke leads what he says is fast-growing research into insect agriculture, and predicts that insects will be on Dutch supermarket shelves this year. And does the former vegetarian eat bugs? "At least once a week. Locusts are nice cooked with garlic and herbs, served with rice or vegetables."

[Ross]

I have not tried this:


Locusts are nice cooked with garlic and herbs, served with rice or vegetables."

I would give that recipe a go...;)

[Wood]

Countries from northern Europe are not usually highly regarded for their traditional food, as far as I know, but I think bugs are hardly ever the best way to go to improve the reputation of any cuisine :)

[Ross]

That fly I swallowed last week didnt cut the mustard, i can tell you!:shocked:

[MorningSong]

I am definately no lizard (reptilian) and no way am I gonna eat bugs (knowingly) unless I have nothing else... but, on second thought, maybe that's the point.. the coming food crisis, right?

I think I'll go start making mud/cow pies to put in my survival stash.... singing "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly, I guess she'll die....":faint2:

[TigaHawk]

When it comes to eating bugs....

Are not bugs considerd delacies in some countries still?

and turn back the history clock - i believe that eating bugs was quite common then too.


So my question to you is...


IS you're reason for not wanting to eat bugs, because you are convinced it's something we are not meant to eat?


Or is it because as the history clock has moved forward, and as we became more "sophisticated".


IE - Someone in africa eats 100% food that comes from the ground. Bugs included, as their everyday diet.

Then come along one guy and offer this person Icecream, and a hamburger.

For this example lets just pretend the icecream and hamburger are 100% organic and addative free :P

Do you think that this guy would want to continue eating what he normaly eats ? or that he'd want to eat more icecream and hamburger?

Even tho what he was eating before the icecream/hamburger - was forfilling all of his dietry needs?

(and just because the anteater eats bugs doesnt mean he's like, or affiliated with, or likes, reptilians :P)

[shadowstalker]

But if they were farmed on an industrial scale, they would be an environmentally-friendly alternative to meat

Why would they need to be farmed if there is an abundance of them,how hard cloud it be to just make traps or what not.
Your right GM Bugs no thanks.

[irishspirit]

I have not tried this:



I would give that recipe a go...;)

:rockon: i will join you on that Ross.

[Carmody]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKDtUzRIG6I

[TigaHawk]

ohhh thanks for the fish heads songs :)

Same goes for us wasting meat. IE back in the day when someone killed a cow, they used EVERYTHING. Eyes, Brain, Balls, the lot. These days - people only eat Rump/Shanks etc. The thought of eating a cow's eye, a fish head, or goats balls im sure is not apealing to anyone here - but it you were the last person on earth, and you had to choose from a lifetime supply of Crisps Chips or cow's balls to eat - i'd choose the cow's balls.

But yeah - if they can get the public to accept eating bugs - they will be GM :( which will suck.

Maybe i was looking forward to eating a bug in some way ? :P

[MorningSong]

I am sure that we all eat a lot of bugs unknowingly. Aren't there already permitted allowances of unidentified things in industrial foods?

I remember years ago when there was a rumor that Wendy's hamburgers had integrated earthworms into the meat patty (just someone's bad joke, I guess, but taking a close look at the meat in those things did turn me off).... yuck anyway!

It is definately a cultural thing- pro or con. I'll stick to my vegies, thanks! And will keep an eye out for the nematode in my carrot or the fruit fly larvae in my peaches!

@Carmody: I hadn't thought of that song in eons....so funny when I was a child! I used to drive my mom nuts singing it! Flash from the past.. thanks!

[NancyV]

Thanks for the Fish Head song, Carmody. It was delightfully warped, almost drove me insane (not a long journey) and I nearly died laughing!

GMO BUGS??? YUCK!!!!!!!! I will admit that I am totally conditioned and brainwashed to think bugs and other icky things are not tasty or desirable and I will happily remain brainwashed! But I have tried many different weird things just so I wouldn't be considered a wimp. I've tried crickets, worms, ants, snake, fish eyes (and heads), chicken foot soup, and many other delightfully icky things that different cultures love. The only thing I really liked was the worm at the bottom of a bottle of tequila although at that point you're beyond caring.

I like this GMO rap song by Mike Adams, the health ranger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnN6FFjZBZQ

[Carmody]

We used to take partridge feet to school and..on the bus or in class.... take them and pull on the tendons that pull the claws in...and do that while using it to tickle the neck of the girl sitting in front of us. Then she turns around and screams.

ahh... that such fun could be had.

Of course, I don't play with the feet of previously happy animals anymore...

[conk]

I eat ants all the time just to freak my girls out. Lick my finger and stick it in the line of ants. Of course it would take days and zillions of ants to make a full meal. :) The ants have a very unique smell and taste.

Certainly bugs could be pulverized and made into some kind of palatable paste or 'jerky'. I'd eat it. I often thought that if the SHTF completely that a backyard garden, a few chickens, and a couple of boxes of worms might get you through. The worms would be easy to sustain in their tidy little home-made boxes and loose soil. chop them up and dehydrate. Yum.......or not. At least it would be very, very cheap protein.

[steve_a]

Hi Carmody,

I remember the original song released in the late seventies. On the same theme of foodstuffs, it seems that there could be a shortage brewing of "Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o-9_J_Cc2w

Best regards,

Steve

[Peace of Mind]

No thanks to eating bugs or any other being that can show me it doesn’t want to be eaten. At this pace, I think human consumption will be next on the menu….It probably already is and people just don’t know about it, but they may have been licking their lips saying “My, that was tasty!”

I don’t live to eat, and I barely eat to live. My diet has changed so much for the better I’m upset at myself for ever eating another sentient being. I get a little fired up every time I just think about the way the FDA has gotten most of the people under their spell. My condolences go out to every sentient species that lost family and friends to a dish on the dinner tables of Humans.

I wonder what peoples feelings will be like if ET came along and started snatching our babies, Bar BQ them, roast them, fry them, broil them, skrewed and rotisserie them with an apple in their mouth's.................. and ate them right in front of our faces…

Yeah, we are full of love and ready for the next level…

Peace