Bugs, it's what's for dinner

From the “in a word, no” department and the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY comes this same tired old story we keep hearing from eco-activists tht believe bugs are more “sustainable” than beef. Because cattle make methane, and that will set the world on fire someday.

The buzz about edible bugs: Can they replace beef?

The idea of eating bugs has created a buzz lately in both foodie and international development circles as a more sustainable alternative to consuming meat and fish. Now a report appearing in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry examines how the nutrients — particularly iron — provided by grasshoppers, crickets and other insects really measures up to beef. It finds that insects could indeed fill that dietary need.

Eating bugs could provide as much or more iron and other nutrients as consuming beef. CREDIT American Chemical Society
Eating bugs could provide as much or more iron and other nutrients as consuming beef. CREDIT American Chemical Society

Edible bugs might sound unappetizing to many Westerners, but they’ve long been included in traditional diets in other regions of the world, which are now home to more than 2 billion people, according a report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The report also notes that about 1,900 insect species have been documented as a food source globally. That they’re a source of protein is well established, but if the world is to turn to bugs to replace meat, the critters will need to offer more than protein. Iron is a particularly important nutrient that is often missing in non-meat diets, causing iron-deficiency anemia, which can lead to lower cognition, immunity, poor pregnancy outcomes and other problems. In light of these concerns, Yemisi Latunde-Dada and colleagues wanted to find out whether commonly eaten insects could contribute to a well-rounded meal.

The researchers analyzed grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms and buffalo worms for their mineral contents and estimated how much of each nutrient would likely get absorbed if eaten, using a lab model of human digestion. The insects had varying levels of iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese and zinc. Crickets, for example, had higher levels of iron than the other insects did. And minerals including calcium, copper and zinc from grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms are more readily available for absorption than the same minerals from beef. The results therefore support the idea that eating bugs could potentially help meet the nutritional needs of the world’s growing population, the researchers say.

###

The authors acknowledge funding from the King’s College London.

The abstract that accompanies this study is available here.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With nearly 157,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Craig Moore
October 27, 2016 5:15 am

Bugs Bunny, only smaller?

October 27, 2016 5:19 am

No thanks
I’d rather die

Hugs
Reply to  chaamjamal
October 27, 2016 12:35 pm

I used to think uncooked fish and sea weed are inedible. I didn’t eat chili, cheese or tomatoes. Could not think about yoghurt without yucking. Vomited on olives.
Now I like nigiris, yoghurt and olives. There is nothing wrong in bugs in general. It is pretty much just a cultural issue. Funny limitation of origin / ethnicity. Like horse (yum!), reindeer (yumyum!) or pork (mm….)
There is nothing better than non-kosher, non-halal, non-enlightened horse-pork-cheese bratwurst with milk, surströmming, fried bugs and haggis. All those I eat now. But I leave chips and coke for you.

george e. smith
Reply to  chaamjamal
October 27, 2016 1:57 pm

Well I like maggots, after they have been fed on oatmeal for a couple of days. That’s when they make the perfect bait to feed out on a fine line with a couple of floats, and exchange them for piper, or some other delectable fish.
But If the Japanese turn all of the Krill into faux filet mignon, what would the blue whales eat.
I’m not in favor of humans supplanting other species lower down the food chain.
I like being near the top.
G

Annie
Reply to  george e. smith
October 28, 2016 1:45 am

I do too; beef, salmon, eggs, cheese and lots of fruit and vegs. I trust the people who suggest living on insects will lead the way and we’ll not see them eating fillet steak and other fine dining. You think?!

JustAnOldGuy
Reply to  chaamjamal
October 27, 2016 2:00 pm

Well my computer’s Windows OS has been fed a steady diet of bugs for years and it dies on a regular basis. And changing numbers, 98-7-10, doesn’t seem to significantly change its diet. Oh well, one of these days I’ll be unable to resist the temptation to perform an ‘inertial adjustment’ and haul off and swat it just like a roach on the floor.

Reply to  JustAnOldGuy
October 27, 2016 3:22 pm

And the money quote:
“using a lab model of human digestion”
Now, models all the way down need to be verified against the real world.
Was this one?
Personally, not really my preferred nosh. Doubtless, at a swep-up restaurant, there will be takers.
And those who come back – if the Chef is on the button.
But bush-tucker trial?
Count me out for now . . . .
Auto, having enjoyed pasta & ham tonight.

Annie
Reply to  JustAnOldGuy
October 28, 2016 1:41 am

Eat an Apple instead.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  JustAnOldGuy
October 28, 2016 5:23 am

aw hell dont resist;-)
swat it NOW!
Linux is sooo much better
and the added fillip of NOT funding the Gates critter

BFL
Reply to  chaamjamal
October 27, 2016 6:59 pm

I’ve had deep fried grasshoppers (crunchy & similar to potato chips) and chocolate covered fried ants (also not bad) and these can still be found at some specialty stores. I think it’s the thought (like eating horse meat/very tasty) that is the the actual problem as I do know some that would literally starve before they would eat such meals even in an emergency. What always amazed me was the example of people dying during a famine from locust crop destruction when an obvious substitute food supply was flying about them.

Chimp
Reply to  BFL
October 27, 2016 10:45 pm

Not to mention dog meat. The best red meat in the world.

Nodak
Reply to  BFL
October 29, 2016 6:09 am

“Not to mention dog meat. The best red meat in the world.”
Except dogs are carnivorous, meaning they have to be fed meat instead of plant matter.
There is also the huge number of diseases. Hundreds of people die just in the Philippines from rabies alone.

Reply to  chaamjamal
October 29, 2016 1:06 pm

Maybe the liberals will start eating tape-worms – after all, parasites like parasites. I will gladly sell them to them at a bargain price.

Reply to  chaamjamal
November 6, 2016 1:12 am

So what are your dietary feelings about lobsters and crabs? Let’s be honest; they’re large water-breathing bugs. Not that I’d eat cockroaches either by choice, but I did one have a marketing plan for them. Once. About 50 years ago.
When I was in college I lived in a cockroach infested flat in SF CA. I couldn’t stand using insecticides in the kitchen so each night I’d put out a crock pot set on a timer to turn on at 2 am. I put bacon strips in the pot. Every morning I had this pot full of deep fried cockroaches. In bacon no less.
I started thinking I might be able to sell them. I’d call them “Pop-Roaches” and put different seasonings on them. Cajun style, New York Cheddar. That sort of thing.
Never did it though. Probably would have made a mint.

Reply to  Bartleby
November 6, 2016 1:17 am

BTW, everything goes better with bacon. It’s a universal truth.

Bruce Cobb
October 27, 2016 5:27 am

“Madame, the peasants are starving”.
“Let them eat bugs!”

Hugs
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
October 27, 2016 12:37 pm

Oh they ate snails and frogs.

george e. smith
Reply to  Hugs
October 27, 2016 1:58 pm

Frogs taste just like chicken, or rabbits.
g

BFL
Reply to  Hugs
October 27, 2016 7:02 pm

Frog legs are best fresh smoked over an open fire, and like lobster not as good frozen.

dickon66
Reply to  Hugs
October 29, 2016 3:31 pm

There’s not a lot that does taste better frozen. I quite like Frog and Alligator, Snake’s okay-ish, farmed Ostrich tastes of nothing really, Wild Boar is incredibly tasty, but Kangaroo is by far the best tasting meat that I’ve tried. Bugs – I might try them to see, but not to live on.

October 27, 2016 5:28 am

They eat bugs here in Thailand. I’ve never been tempted.

October 27, 2016 5:31 am

Save The Crickets!

October 27, 2016 5:34 am

Pass!

Don
October 27, 2016 5:35 am

#BugLivesMatter 🙂

Nigel S
October 27, 2016 5:35 am

Somebody please think of the termites!
‘Each termite produces, on average, about half a microgram of methane per day, a seemingly insignificant amount. However, when this is multiplied up by the world population of termites, global methane emission from this source is estimated to be about 20 million tonnes each year.’
http://www.ghgonline.org/methanetermite.htm

SasjaL
Reply to  Nigel S
October 27, 2016 7:08 am

Not to forget the large number of big herbivores in Africa …
Have noticed that the econuts don’t understand that there are a great number of different proteins. Some of them are allergens.

Reply to  Nigel S
October 27, 2016 7:10 am

B I N G O !
Liberals don’t like cows

MarkW
Reply to  Steve Case
October 27, 2016 7:58 am

On one hand, they want us to get rid of cows.
On the other hand, they want to repopulate the priaries with Bison.

Tom in Florida
October 27, 2016 5:41 am

OK, I waited but somebody has to do it.

Reply to  Tom in Florida
October 27, 2016 12:44 pm

Now that’s funny, Tom.
“but if the world is to turn to bugs to replace meat, the critters will need to offer more than protein.”
Well doh! How about flavor.
Try to replace the flavor of a good steak.

george e. smith
Reply to  mikerestin
October 27, 2016 2:00 pm

green shell mussels, will do it.
g

Reply to  mikerestin
October 29, 2016 1:08 pm

Take a pill to destroy your taste buds, so you will eat anything. Perfect for far-left zealots.

higley7
October 27, 2016 5:43 am

Then there is the whole, how to raise insects in bulk problem. They go through many developmental stages and might only reproduce under certain circumstances and require specific foods. I do not know of any extensive insect farming going on. In SE Asia many of the bugs are from the wild and some are even rare and getting rarer.

Reply to  higley7
October 27, 2016 6:19 am

Silk worms.
And they are delicious.

Mike McMillan
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 27, 2016 9:10 am

ouch.

James Bull
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 27, 2016 1:25 pm

Rather reminds me of the line in one of the P G Wodehouse books.
“Had his brains been constructed of silk, he would have been hard put to it to find sufficient material to make a canary a pair of cami-knickers.”
James Bull

Dave N
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 27, 2016 2:34 pm

“This explains some of your online threads”
Worst.. pun.. evah!

BFL
Reply to  Steven Mosher
October 27, 2016 7:09 pm

Cooked how? I have had escargot and it’s too off flavor for me. However I suspect that like the more expensive fish eggs that it may be more about privilege which provides a required hallucination of adapted/good taste because of the expense/culture.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/152379707591/a-lesson-in-cognitive-dissonance

RAH
Reply to  higley7
October 27, 2016 7:26 am

Man has plenty of experience in that with many different species of bugs. Just visit a bait shop to the see results. When I was a kid I met an old guy that made a fortune raising worms and catering to both commercial and sport fishermen on the Tennessee River at Savannah, TN. I was told that he was the owner of Cherry Mansion there. So those that claim that people should eat bugs or claim they desire to do so have no excuse if they live anywhere close to a bait shop for fresh water fishing.

Tom O
Reply to  higley7
October 27, 2016 12:42 pm

Don’t know about raising bugs for food, but I can guarantee it is difficult to raise massive amounts of insects. You might not think it so, but when raised in large quantities, they require a very vitamin rich diet and antibiotics, because they are prone to disease in close quarters, the amount and type will depend on the specific insect being grown. And at least in the insects we produced, they are not cheap. I’d sooner good beef because, quite frankly, if the food doesn’t taste good, it pretty well wipes out my desire to eat.

BFL
Reply to  Tom O
October 27, 2016 7:10 pm

I think that you have overlooked roaches…..

Janice Moore
Reply to  Tom O
October 27, 2016 7:16 pm

Say…… BFL…. Bugs For Lunch! 😉

ozspeaksup
Reply to  higley7
October 28, 2016 5:32 am

oh theres some big efforts underway in Eu I gather, the food industry news keeps touting some new benefit pretty regularly
once the food remnants from processing went to the farms direct
now they extract amazing amounts of further nutrient for the pharmas and supplements/skincare etc
and whats left pretty poor might then go to animals
now
“studies show” (facepalm) that golly gosh!!! insects can be fed the twice thrice etc processed residues
maximising profit and then some..
pity the producers dont see it.
and the animals that did efficiently process and enjoy the fruit veg waste in their diets go without.
they also got the minerals and returned them to the soils
dont reckon cricket shit is going to be a volume supply for gardens etc
Im waiting for the day that Weevils in stupormarket goods get touted as added bonus protein, and charged More rather than apologies n refunds:-)

October 27, 2016 5:48 am

I’m all for it. Should reduce the demand for beef and my prime rib will be more affordable.
2 billion people already eat kvetch that I can’t even look at, so this fits right in. Go get them bugs folks…

JohnKnight
Reply to  BobM
October 27, 2016 11:44 am

“Should reduce the demand for beef and my prime rib will be more affordable.”
Seems kinda selfish, Bob . . I prefer to not drive up the cost of bugs ; )

Reply to  JohnKnight
October 27, 2016 12:46 pm

I promise I won’t.

BFL
Reply to  BobM
October 27, 2016 7:12 pm

I’ll take T-bone/Porterhouse grilled over charcoal with fruit wood added for smoke anytime (medium rare or less).

Janice Moore
Reply to  BFL
October 27, 2016 7:17 pm

and a side of flies. hahahah

Flyoverbob
October 27, 2016 5:50 am

How many Billion Humans are on Life Boat Earth? Just how many Crickets per serving and how many servings per day? I wonder if herding Crickets would be easier than herding cats?

ShrNfr
Reply to  Flyoverbob
October 27, 2016 6:02 am

I say my fellow, that comment was just not cricket. Now please pitch in like the rest of us, and stop making those wicket comments.

Brent Hargreaves
Reply to  ShrNfr
October 27, 2016 6:35 am

All these puns have me stumped….

Monna Manhas
Reply to  Flyoverbob
October 27, 2016 6:36 am

And then we have to make sure that the crickets are raised humanely. How do you raise “free-range” crickets and not have them fly away? Clip their wings? 🙂

DredNicolson
Reply to  Monna Manhas
October 27, 2016 12:56 pm

And what about the spiders, lizards, and frogs who would be thrown into sudden competition with an unstoppable wave of hungry humans? 😉
Oh, right. They aren’t fluffy, cute or cuddly, so they can be safely ignored.

george e. smith
Reply to  Monna Manhas
October 27, 2016 2:03 pm

I can handle the humane raising. It’s trying to deal with the humane slaughter that has me stumped.
g

BFL
Reply to  Monna Manhas
October 27, 2016 7:16 pm

Raise those crickets indoors, just think of the outdoor like harmony when sleeping. To kill use inert gas like nitrogen:
https://nitrogenexecution.wordpress.com/

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Flyoverbob
October 28, 2016 5:34 am

we used to breed n sell them for frog n lizard n bird snacks
i CAN say truthfully that herding crickets that escaped is far worse than herding cats!
and they CHIRP…somewhere in the house..all night

Owen in GA
October 27, 2016 5:56 am

Let’s see, the digestive processes of most insects produce lots of either carbon dioxide or methane. Now imagine the mass of insects required to replace a herd of beef for the dinner tables of the world. I think the CO2/methane balance is either a wash or slightly worse when we consider industrial farming of insects. That is without taking into consideration the life cycle and breeding problems mentioned above. These people are daft.

Owen in GA
Reply to  Owen in GA
October 27, 2016 5:58 am

Also, (just my prejudice) eating insects can’t compete with the experience of consuming a well-prepared beef steak.

Tom in Florida
Reply to  Owen in GA
October 27, 2016 7:16 am

And that’s what really bugs me about this whole thing.

seaice1
Reply to  Owen in GA
October 27, 2016 9:10 am

It is possible to rear insects in a closed system where you can tap off the methane. You can’t do that with a cow so easily.

MarkW
Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 9:59 am

Just make sure that there are no sources of combustion nearby.
Beyond that, how high does the methane concentration have to get before your little buggers start dying from it?

MarkW
Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 10:58 am

PS: Regarding doing it with cows, it’s called a barn. Perhaps you have “herd” of them.

Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 12:48 pm

seaice1 October 27, 2016 at 9:10 am
“It is possible to rear insects in a closed system where you can tap off the methane. You can’t do that with a cow so easily.”
Roaches seem to do well in an enclosed environment.
Don’t think I want them on my menu, though.

seaice1
Reply to  seaice1
October 28, 2016 1:40 am

It is actually difficult to extract the methane gas from barn air. There are however methods.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2606956/Now-THATS-wind-power-Cows-wear-BACKPACKS-capture-emissions-miniature-power-stations.html

Reply to  seaice1
November 6, 2016 1:24 am

“You can’t do that with a cow so easily”
??! No?
You take a tube, tie up the cow, then shove the tube up the cow’s…
Not hard. The cow doesn’t like it.

Reply to  Owen in GA
November 6, 2016 1:21 am

“Let’s see, the digestive processes of most insects produce lots of either carbon dioxide or methane”
No sh*t! That’s one of those small details future commercial insect growers would rather not expose to the general public.

Reply to  Bartleby
November 6, 2016 1:34 am

Weren’t lasers involved in all of this? Was that a different article?

October 27, 2016 5:59 am

Hmm. My cats have had it right all along…..

ShrNfr
October 27, 2016 6:00 am

Termites produce an immense amout of methane when they digest cellulose just like cows do. Same reason. You can’t fix stupid.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  ShrNfr
October 27, 2016 10:12 am

Now I copied this a long time back, but from where I don’t recall,

Termite and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Facts:
• Termites produce more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) each year than all living things combined.
• Scientists have calculated that termites alone produce ten times as much carbon dioxide as all the fossil fuels burned in the whole world in a year.
• Scientists estimate that, worldwide, termites may release over 150 million tons of methane gas into the atmosphere annually. In our lower atmosphere this methane then reacts to form carbon dioxide and ozone.
• It is estimated that for every human on Earth there may be 1000 pounds of termites.

Owen in GA
Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
October 27, 2016 12:25 pm

That first point is bad logical syntax and the original authors should be ashamed. Since “termites” are a subset of the set of living things and since there are other non-intersecting subsets of the set of living things that also produce CO2, the statement is false. They need one little tiny word to make it true and that is the word “other”. The correct statement is:
Termites produce more Carbon Dioxide (CO2) each year the all other living things combined.
I know it is a bit pedantic, but that logical error bothers me every time I see it.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
October 28, 2016 3:11 am

You are correct, termites are living things also. I shudda caught that omission of “other”.
OK, I think I know the origin of that statement.
It was an Editor’s choice of “wording” for a “headline” on a published article.

Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
October 28, 2016 3:26 am

Apropos logical error, it should be ‘each hour’ or ‘each day’ or even ‘each decade’ instead of ‘each year’.

Owen in GA
Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
October 28, 2016 8:05 am

Those headline writers will get you every time. They are related to our marketing people who can mess up any humble event with over-hype. I hate when people leave an event or lecture disappointed because the marketing write-up oversold the event.

GPHanner
October 27, 2016 6:00 am

Mmmmmmmm. Rice bugs. It’s what’s for dinner
http://importfood.com/thai_insect_maengda.html

george e. smith
Reply to  GPHanner
October 27, 2016 2:05 pm

But how do you separate the rice grain from the bug larvae ??
g

MarkW
Reply to  george e. smith
October 27, 2016 2:47 pm

Water usually works.

BFL
Reply to  george e. smith
October 27, 2016 7:18 pm

No need to, just cook together adds extra protein.

Monna Manhas
Reply to  george e. smith
October 27, 2016 9:00 pm

You wash the rice in a bowl of water. The bugs float, the rice don’t. Believe me, I’ve done it – a long time ago when I couldn’t afford to throw away 10 lb of buggy rice.

seaice1
October 27, 2016 6:13 am

The way to turn insects into food is initially via feed for animals. Particularly fish farms because fish are one of the few carnivores we eat. Fish are currently fed on fish meal, which is causing harm to fisheries through over fishing. Insects can provide a good fishmeal substitute. The key to their sustainability is that insects are nature’s waste processors. Insects can be fed on waste from a variety of sources, and the species can be selected to deal with different types of waste. Win-win, and we can eat salmon instead of insect burgers.

Rob
Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 7:06 am

Exactly the same way that I like to eat kale – after a cow has processed it into red meat for me!

Reply to  Rob
October 27, 2016 12:14 pm

Exactly, vegetables are what food eats.

MarkW
Reply to  Rob
October 27, 2016 2:48 pm

As the author Piers Anthony wrote “My ancestors didn’t spend the last 2 million years climbing the food chain so that I could eat rabbit food.”

Mjw
Reply to  Rob
October 29, 2016 10:16 am

They tried to feed me kale in hospital once, it looked like the cow had already processed it.

MarkW
October 27, 2016 6:15 am

You first.

Marcus
October 27, 2016 6:37 am

” but they’ve long been included in traditional diets in other regions of the world, which are now home to more than 2 billion people, according a report by the U.N.”….
Sorry, they don’t eat bugs because they like them or because they are nutritious…They eat them because they are starving !!

Reply to  Marcus
October 27, 2016 9:03 am

Hi Marcus, – It is correct that in some situations insect consumption is in response to hunger. However, in many instances this is not actually the driving force behind their consumption in several cultures. There are even some edible bugs that command what are locally high prices. I am typing on a tablet so for my convenience skip citing specific examples at this point.

Dr. Strangelove
October 27, 2016 6:38 am

Bugs are my favorite snack hmmm crunchy

Bruce Cobb
October 27, 2016 6:41 am

Hey, I know! Instead of burying or cremating folks when they die, we could convert them into little green wafers (to disguise what they’re made of). Win-win!

Reply to  Bruce Cobb
October 27, 2016 10:19 am

Hmmm, Soylent Green?

Ray in SC
October 27, 2016 6:43 am

As usual the study is based on a computer model, this time of the human digestive system. How about some empirical data? It would be quite easy to put a couple of the study authors on a bug diet and record the results.

Eugene WR Gallun
Reply to  Ray in SC
October 27, 2016 6:55 am

Ray in SC —
Laughing my assets off. Practice what you preach? Unheard of in left wingers — and this is left wing science.
Eugene WR Gallun

Paul of Alexandria
Reply to  Ray in SC
October 27, 2016 8:22 am

Sort of like “Dances with Wolves”. How many ways can you fix mouse?

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Ray in SC
October 28, 2016 5:41 am

if its like the model stomach they used to “prove” GM Soy was safe?
its a chemical bath supposedly hydrochloric acid same levels as our gut
the GM soy trials cooked the soy approx 4x longer than any normal home would..
then whacked it into a savagely strong acid bath to “prove” it digested just fine and the dna gene fiddlins were all broken down.
I dont know where to find the film but a Japanese scientist redid their testing and was pretty UNimpressed.

Eugene WR Gallun
October 27, 2016 6:46 am

Everything is in the name. I have one for a startup company that should have investors jumping.
JIMINY CRICKETS
YOWSER! YOWSER! YOWSER!
I am sure something can be worked out with Disney.
Eugene WR Gallun

Tom Halla
October 27, 2016 6:47 am

The hard core vegans like PETA would object as much to crickets as cows.

MarkW
Reply to  Tom Halla
October 27, 2016 8:00 am

Hard core vegans. They are next on the menu.

Reply to  MarkW
October 27, 2016 12:53 pm

Big Smile! Thanks

Reply to  Tom Halla
October 27, 2016 3:13 pm

“The life of an ant and that of my child should be granted equal consideration.” Michael W. Fox, Scientific Director and former Vice President, The Humane Society of the United States, The Inhumane Society, New York, 1990
“A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy.” Ingrid Newkirk, PeTA’s founder and president, Washingtonian Magazine, August 1986
“If it were a child and a dog I wouldn’t know for sure… I might choose the human baby or I might choose the dog.” Susan Rich, outreach coordinator, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), on the Steve Kane Show, WIOD-AM radio, Miami, Florida, February 23, 1989.
“If an animal researcher said, “Its a dog or a child,’ a liberator will defend the dog every time.” “Screaming Wolf” (pseudonym), A Declaration of War: Killing People to Save Animals and the Environment (Grass Valley, California: Patrick Henry Press, 1991), p. 14.
“What we must do is start viewing every cow, pig, chicken, monkey, rabbit, mouse, and pigeon as our family members.” Gary Yourofsky, Humane Education Director, PETA, The Toledo Blade, June 24, 2001
“Even if animal tests produced a cure [for AIDS], ‘we’d be against it.'” –Ingrid Newkirk, national director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), as quoted in Fred Barnes, “Politics,” Vogue, September 1989, p. 542.

I wish I was making this stuff up.

Figaro
October 27, 2016 7:06 am

There is already in Europe a piglet feed contaning insect derived oil: A Dutch feed company is the world’s first to put a feed product on the market with insect oil. The weaner feed with the insect ingredient has a lot of potential to reduce bacteria, prevent diarrhoea and improve feed intake; the key components to have a smooth transition from piglet to grower. (Source: http://www.allaboutfeed.net/New-Proteins/Articles/2016/9/Worlds-first-commercial-piglet-feed-with-insect-oil-2883165W/). A consortium supporting insect feed as a protein source for animal feed has recently published a white paper on the topic: http://www.proteinsect.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/press/proteinsect-whitepaper-2016.pdf

Monna Manhas
Reply to  Figaro
October 27, 2016 10:12 am

No problems with prions and mad pig disease?

RAH
October 27, 2016 7:09 am

Sooooo, what are all of those that want us to eat bugs eating? I mean, after all, if they are so concerned about sustainability they should all have been practicing what they’re preaching for some time now.

Reply to  RAH
October 27, 2016 9:16 am

Yea! Just like SpottedAl Gorbal and M. DiCaprio ride their bikes to Australia using polar bears and baby seals as convenient hopping stones!

Tom in Florida
October 27, 2016 7:15 am

I require approx 60 grams of protein per day. I don’t do dairy (lactose intolerant) so how many bugs must I eat daily?

Reply to  Tom in Florida
October 27, 2016 8:28 am

Hi Tom,- A European bug wrangler reared 488.4 Kg of edible cricket Acheta domesticus per square meter annually with a production rate of 1.34 Kg per square meter daily of crickets. Based on this cricket variety composition from bug research data this production schedule worked out to 0.28 Kg of protein per day produced per square meter.
I have worked out the calculation for a 6 foot tall non-obese 175 pound male protein requirement of 87.5 grams protein daily & trust this is relevant enough to orientate you. If all that protein was supplied by this kind of cricket then all the 87.5 gr. protein could be reared in the equivalent space of 0.3125 sq.mt. Which means that person’s annual protein requirement could be raised on 114 sq.mt.
Soybean at 40% protein content, based on average yield range, would require 626 – 183 sq.mt. to provide the same 175 pound person’s annual protein at the rate of 87.5 gr. daily. However, I must point out that I have not calculated the area required to produce the feedstock for this kind of cricket & different diets give different food conversion ratios.
In terms of edible A.domesticus cricket weight, rather than their unprepared total mass weight, on a diet of 50% soluble carbohydrate, 10% protein, 5% fat, 8% fiber, ash, trace mineral/vitamin & 12% moisture feed for every 1.59 Kg feed you get 1 Kg of edible cricket.
In 2015, based on USA farm commodity prices, I calculated that formulating one’s own feed from bulk stock meant that each Kg of the above feed formula would cost US$0.14 for it’s protein & carbohydrate ingredients. In a simplified estimate, to rear 1 Kg A. domesticus cricket edible portion the feed cost was around US$0.22.

Tom in Florida
Reply to  gringojay
October 27, 2016 11:52 am

Thank you, and your information is interesting but I just want to know how many crickets do I have to eat daily.

Owen in GA
Reply to  gringojay
October 27, 2016 12:32 pm

And cricket waste is a great fertilizer! BUT, I will feed the crickets to the trout and then eat the trout for dinner.

Reply to  gringojay
October 27, 2016 4:36 pm

Again Tom, – My internet went down & still some glitches. Your original question was # of bugs to get 60 gr. protein. This depends on the type of insect, since bugs have different % protein (& fat). Before going further let me say that insect protein amino acid profiles differ & one should not assume 60 gr. of bug protein as the only protein would provide a perfect human amino acid complement without any vegetable sourced amino acids to round the protein out.
Acheta domesticus crickets are being introduced into households more as a dried & milled ingredient to incorporate into baked & fried goods, rather than as a pile of cooked crickets to chow down. Since rearing conditions, feed & age create variations in a bug’s harvest weight I will use A. domesticus female fresh weight of 400 mg/ cricket for convenience (age mate males weigh less) as a conservative reference.
So the answer to your question is “alot” if figuring on crickets; well over 200 A. domesticus crickets. I am not getting prompt internet access to my prefered source so will not specifiy here the moisture content of fresh crickets or the % protein in fresh crickets from memory. For now, to give you some context, I will repeat one claim that crickets can be 60% protein by dry weight mass. If you are interested in more specific details let me know & since I expect my internet to improve soon will follow up.

Reply to  Tom in Florida
October 31, 2016 2:34 pm

I’m lactose intolerant also, beginning 30 days after turning 17. I <3 dairy, it just needs to be fermented first; and bugs do a great job (not insects, bugs, the things lots of insects eat)

Mark
October 27, 2016 7:16 am

I’ll agree they are healthy. I won’t agree that beef will cause the world to burn.

The Original Mike M
October 27, 2016 7:36 am

The whole idea is a total ruse anyway. These CAGW hypocrites attack cows because they emit “carbon” from the grass that they ate that came from the air but then wholly support wood burning power generation that emits “carbon” from the trees that they “ate” that …. came from the air. What do I have wrong here?

MarkW
Reply to  The Original Mike M
October 27, 2016 8:01 am

You thought about it for a moment. That’s where you went wrong.

Reply to  MarkW
October 27, 2016 1:00 pm

Yeah, no fair using logic.

seaice1
Reply to  The Original Mike M
October 27, 2016 9:08 am

Mike M You did not think about it quite enough. The carbon that the cows took in came from CO2 via plants, some of which is emitted as methane. Methane has a global warming potential 72 times that of CO2 in a 20 year period. So the cow converting CO2 into methane increases the current warming significantly.

Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 10:25 am

But the methane only lasts about 8 years in the atmosphere before breaking down.

MarkW
Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 10:59 am

If the weather were to warm dramatically, the methane would start breaking down even quicker.

Bubba Cow
Reply to  seaice1
October 27, 2016 12:50 pm

Here in Northern Vermont I am surrounded by dairy farms … and we don’t know winter anymore from all that methane heating. Excellent, actually, and good beef.

Reply to  seaice1
October 28, 2016 3:44 am

So the cow converting CO2 into methane increases the current warming significantly.
No. There is about 220 times more CO₂ in the air than CH₄

Patrick MJD
Reply to  seaice1
October 28, 2016 3:48 am

“seaice1 October 27, 2016 at 9:08 am
The carbon that the cows took in came from CO2 via plants, some of which is emitted as methane. Methane has a global warming potential 72 times that of CO2 in a 20 year period.”
Sorry mods, but this post is a load of carp. Seaice1, you haven’t a clue!

The Original Mike M
Reply to  seaice1
October 28, 2016 1:13 pm

Methane schmethane. Methane is virtually irrelevant compared to WV which masks the same wavelengths.
You people are the ones regularly using the term “carbon” in your narrative, that is until the argument goes against you forcing you to revert back to the correct molecular names of the substances. Regardless, you cannot get around the FACT that the “carbon” came from the air! You made that bed …

drednicolson
Reply to  The Original Mike M
October 27, 2016 4:00 pm

And coal is really really old wood (and other organic matter). So why is wood ok to burn when it’s young and green and much less efficient fuel, but not ok when it’s old and black and efficient? Those wacky Greenies.

seaice1
Reply to  drednicolson
October 28, 2016 1:50 am

drednicolson. Because wood is part of our current carbon cycle. Fossil fuels are adding to the carbon in the current carbon cycle. All the carbon in wood was taken out of the atmosphere recently. All the carbon in coal was taken out of the atmospheres millions of years ago. Surely you can see the difference?
Whether or not you think that adding carbon is harmful or not, you surely cannot disagree that burning fossil fuels adds to the amount of carbon currently in the atmosphere, averaged over a few years, whereas burning wood does not.

October 27, 2016 8:09 am

My tiger salamander rescued from our well a few years ago doesn’t even seem to like fresh caught grasshoppers . Prefers freeze dried crickets .

Paul of Alexandria
Reply to  Bob Armstrong
October 27, 2016 8:23 am

Pieces of raw liver on a string works well too. I had one of those for a while when I was a kid.

Mike McMillan
Reply to  Paul of Alexandria
October 27, 2016 9:08 am

A piece of raw liver?

Reply to  Paul of Alexandria
October 27, 2016 1:00 pm

That implies raising vertebrates . And
higher life forms are what’s broiling the planet .

Reply to  Paul of Alexandria
October 27, 2016 1:02 pm

Oh , and I use a hemostat I happen to have around .

Mike the Morlock
October 27, 2016 8:50 am

I am going to fire up the charcoal grill this evening. Beef steak, swordfish steak and some burgers. Bugs not welcome.
michael

October 27, 2016 9:05 am

Good luck with that, the United States didn’t rise to the greatest power and democracy in history by eating crickets and buffalo worms and I seriously doubt it will revert to such primitive practices. Perhaps we should consider butchering and consuming crackpot scientists and hairbrained journalists? Their contribution to the food supply would surely be more valuable to society than their current worth.

Reply to  qbagwell
October 27, 2016 10:24 am

But wouldn’t you get mad scientist disease?

drednicolson
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
October 27, 2016 4:11 pm

Only if you eat the brains.

The Original Mike M
Reply to  Retired_Engineer_Jim
October 29, 2016 5:52 am

But they’re from another planet so those brains are an alien species.

RAH
Reply to  qbagwell
October 28, 2016 7:08 am

Yes but the people eat such things in the great nation North Korea, which the Greens want us to emulate. I guess it goes well with the tree bark and grass.

Bruce Cobb
October 27, 2016 9:27 am

You’d need some mighty small lassoes to do roach rustling.

TD
October 27, 2016 9:45 am

Bugs will make efficient high-quality feed for chicken & aquaculture fish.

Samuel C Cogar
October 27, 2016 9:58 am

Excerpted from above commentary:

The idea of eating bugs has created a buzz lately in both foodie and international development circles as a more sustainable alternative to consuming meat and fish.

HA, me thinks “The idea of eating bugs” should, … or will surely, …. “open up a can-of-worms” along with “creating a buzz”.
Quoting above commentary, again:

Iron is a particularly important nutrient that is often missing in non-meat diets, causing iron-deficiency anemia, which can lead to lower cognition, immunity, poor pregnancy outcomes and other problems.
The researchers analyzed grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms and buffalo worms for their mineral contents …… Crickets, for example, had higher levels of iron than the other insects did. And minerals including calcium, copper and zinc from grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms are more readily available for absorption than the same minerals from beef.

HA, and the “buzz” being created surely has something to do with …….. just what kinda “iron” did those crickets have “high levels” of? Ya best find out before ya go on a “cricket eating diet” because, to wit:
Excerpted from included source link:

There are two forms of dietary iron: heme and nonheme. Heme iron is derived from hemoglobin. It is found in animal foods that originally contained hemoglobin, such as red meats, fish, and poultry. Your body absorbs the most iron from heme sources. Nonheme iron is from plant sources.
Iron in plant foods such as lentils, beans, and spinach is nonheme iron. This is the form of iron added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. Our bodies are less efficient at absorbing nonheme iron, but most dietary iron is nonheme iron.
Source: http://www.webmd.com/diet/iron-rich-foods#1

And now that everyone knows there are two (2) kinds of “dietary iron” ……. the “can-of-worms” involving the improbability of there being any actual, factual truths or evidence, scientific or otherwise, to support the currently touted …… “Out of the trees and across the hot and dry African Savannah Theory of Homo Sapien Evolution” …… should surely now cause the subject of “human origins” to be hotly debated.
Our early human ancestors evolved to be the “brainy” ones of the family of Great Apes simply because our ancestors resided on the shores of large bodies of saltwater which provided them an easily accessible, abundant supply of “iron rich” high protein food sources, ….. to wit:

What seafood is rich in iron? If oysters, mussels, and clams aren’t on your regular menu, common fin fish, like haddock, salmon, and tuna, are also good sources, although not as high in iron as mollusks (shellfish).

Reply to  Samuel C Cogar
October 28, 2016 7:55 am

Insects are in the animal kingdom.

Samuel C Cogar
Reply to  gringojay
October 29, 2016 7:56 am

YUP, but as far as I know there are not very many “hemoglobin” eating insects that one could “make-a-meal” out of ….. or would even want to try to eat.
HA, “blood sucking” mosquitoes, ticks, bedbugs, leeches, etc., are not “heme” animals that one can easily make a meal of to ward off their hunger pains.

Doug
October 27, 2016 10:25 am

I don’t like the way a cricket’s hind legs will poke your palate and stick in your throat. Perhaps we need a GMO cricket with less chitin.

LarryFine
October 27, 2016 10:27 am

Will the masses wake up to the hypocritical tyranny that people (hello Gore!) who decree that WE eat bugs and live in cold, dark hovels themselves dine on steaks and luxuriate in palaces?comment image

Paul Penrose
October 27, 2016 10:34 am

OK, so bugs and worms have protein and iron. But we get more than that from beef, pork, etc., and one of those things is vitamin B12. Humans require it but our bodies can’t synthesize it like other mammals. Do bugs and worms have useful quantities of B12? What about vitamin D? Some humans can’t synthesize that either.

ChadB
October 27, 2016 10:41 am

Notice what the authors did not do? They did not recruit volunteers to go on a diet where their protein source was converted to crickets and then measure week to month health effects. No, what they really mean is that all those other people (especially the poor) need to eat bugs.
Enforcement mechanism? SNAP benefits to restrict payments for beef and other tradition farm foods but provide higher benefits for “sustainable protein products.” Additionally new regulations for reduced price lunches to require integration of “carbon-neutral proteins.” The poor (and especially their children) can eat bugs. Because you know, we care about them. It’s for their good.

October 27, 2016 11:30 am

Just cook your choice of protein in cast iron pots, iron intake solved.

OK S.
October 27, 2016 12:42 pm

I used to drive past a pond on the way to work where the owner had hung a bug zapper from a tree limb over the water. One of his neigbors, whom I worked with, said they used to go down in the evenings and watch the fish as they come to the surface every time the bug zapper zapped. Better than TV he said. Probably better than politics, too.

OK S.
Reply to  OK S.
October 27, 2016 12:48 pm
October 27, 2016 1:05 pm

And not just one cricket but, a mouthful so they have to chew, feel the texture and then swallow it…and nothing to drink til the crickets are down the gullet.
I don’t want to watch though…too ew!

Gamecock
October 27, 2016 1:15 pm

‘eating bugs could potentially help meet the nutritional needs of the world’s growing population, the researchers say.’
How could the world population be growing if its nutritional needs aren’t being met already?
Gamecock is not interested in having “researchers” choose what he eats, nor paying for people to tell him what he should be eating.

Chimp
October 27, 2016 2:52 pm

I’m reminded of the line from the movie “Tom Horne”, in which Steve McQueen, being dined by the evil cattle baron on lobster, says, “I never et a bug that big before.”

Chimp
October 27, 2016 3:17 pm

Australian haute cuisine:comment image
South African haute cuisine:comment image
With caterpillars, who needs a tractor?

Gamecock
Reply to  Chimp
October 27, 2016 4:48 pm

Perhaps the bravest man who ever lived was the first one to eat one of them critters.

MikeN
October 27, 2016 4:50 pm

Snowpiercer is a movie that reveals the global warmer mindset.
Rich elite living in luxury, commoners relegated to eating bugs.
All caused by an attempt to stop global warming.

Chimp
Reply to  MikeN
October 27, 2016 9:09 pm

IMO Tilda Swinton is close to being a unique personality among players active today, or perhaps ever. Her politics are abhorrent, but she is a brilliant actress, as well as being a giantess. I am an abroad Scot of her ilk, BTW.

RoHa
October 27, 2016 9:56 pm

So I’m doomed to be a vegetarian?

October 27, 2016 11:11 pm

My grandfather disapproved of my father eating pork. My father disapproved of me eating seafood, and would faint if offered some escargot r frog legs. I tried preserved smoked locusts in Central Asia. They don’t taste good, in my opinion, but I guess I would eat them if very hungry. Allegedly, John the Baptist survived on locusts in the desert. Chinese eat everything that moves (though they prefer pork and noodles if they can afford them). Some Central American tribes enjoy roast tarantula.
Ancient Sumerians never ate any fish, believing it to be poisonous. This belief was also widespread in the Middle Ages in Europe (the French word “poisson” for “fish” comes to mind). Orthodox Jews and their cultural and religious plagiarists, the Muslims, cannot stand the thought of eating pork. In Israel, the law requires that swine should not touch the Jewish soil. As a result, non-believers raise swine in Israel on platforms made of wooden planks. Israeli pork is abundant good. But you’d never find pork in Turkey or in Egypt. Being non-orthodox in Muslim countries can go only so far; but you can kill your wife there if you suspect that she is unfaithful. The authorities may give you a slap on the wrist for that, but they will stone your wide to death if you ask them. Angela Merkel wouln’d survive a day in some Muslim regions where I lived time to time.
I’ve met Americans who viewed traditional, delicious Russian foods as utterly disgusting (“Yuck, fish eggs!”), unhealthy (“Salt pork fat with rye bread? It’ll kill you!”) or dangerous (“Wild mushroom soup??? No, thanks, I wouldn’t think of trying it!”)
However, tastes of different peoples, as well as the possibility of eating insects and worms, is not the point here. The point is that green activists hate the civilisation that feeds them, they want to destroy our traditions, they are illogical and suicidal. When it comes to the destruction of Western way of life, everything goes for them, that’s why they are in bed with the Sharia Islam: the worse, the better!
Besides, insects form the largest biomass on Earth that produces far more methane than cattle. Let green activists chew cockroaches, if they so prefer. Parasites feel an affinity toward parasites, I reckon.

October 27, 2016 11:24 pm

My grandfather disapproved of my father eating pork. My father disapproved of me eating seafood, and would faint if offered some escargot r frog legs. I tried preserved smoked locusts in Central Asia. They don’t taste good, in my opinion, but I guess I would eat them if very hungry. Allegedly, John the Baptist survived on locusts in the desert. Chinese eat everything that moves (though they prefer pork and noodles if they can afford them). Some Central American tribes enjoy roast tarantula.
Ancient Sumerians never ate any fish, believing it to be poisonous. This belief was also widespread in the Middle Ages in Europe (the French word “poisson” for “fish” comes to mind). Orthodox Jews and their cultural and religious plagiarists, the Muslims, cannot stand the thought of eating pork. In Israel, the law requires that swine should not touch the Jewish soil. As a result, non-believers raise swine in Israel on platforms made of wooden planks. Israeli pork is abundant good. But you’d never find pork in Turkey or in Egypt. Being non-orthodox in Muslim countries can go only so far; but you can kill your wife there if you suspect that she is unfaithful. The authorities may give you a slap on the wrist for that, but they will stone your wide to death if you ask them. Angela Merkel wouln’d survive a day in some Muslim regions where I lived time to time.
I’ve met Americans who viewed traditional, delicious Russian foods as utterly disgusting (“Yuck, fish eggs!”), unhealthy (“Salt pork fat with rye bread? It’ll kill you!”) or dangerous (“Wild mushroom soup??? No, thanks, I wouldn’t think of trying it!”)
However, tastes of different peoples, as well as the possibility of eating insects and worms, is not the point here. The point is that green activists hate the civilisation that feeds them, they want to destroy our traditions, they are illogical and suicidal. When it comes to the destruction of Western way of life, everything goes for them, that’s why they are in bed with the Sharia Islam: the worse, the better!
Besides, insects form the largest biomass on Earth that produces far more methane than cattle. Let green activists chew cockroaches, if they so prefer. Parasites feel an affinity toward parasites, I reckon.

Larry Wirth
October 28, 2016 12:35 am

Horses? Some historic perspective: My Onkel Rheinhold (1896-1917) wrote home from the western front that he had acquired a positive opinion of horseflesh as the best (compared with what he otherwise had to eat). My father, Franz (1903-89), back in Hamburg, also appreciated the taste during the “turnip Winter” of 1916-17. Almost as many horses as humans were slaughtered during World War I. Does anyone imagine that the dead horses were given a ‘decent burial’? If you’re hungry enough, you’ll eat leather, bones, and anything else that appears to be possibly digestible.
Never got to meet my uncle, ‘disappeared’ at Passchendaele 28 years before I was born.

HocusLocus
October 28, 2016 12:51 am

I will not accept buggy nutritional advice from people who suck out shrimp leaving the delicious crunchy shell. They have been known to fish the eggshells out of their omelettes too.

October 28, 2016 2:28 am

My message seems to be moderated out of existence today.
Can’t imagine, why.

October 28, 2016 2:29 am

I’ll try again:
My grandfather disapproved of my father eating pork. My father disapproved of me eating seafood, and would faint if offered some escargot r frog legs. I tried preserved smoked locusts in Central Asia. They don’t taste good, in my opinion, but I guess I would eat them if very hungry. Allegedly, John the Baptist survived on locusts in the desert. Chinese eat everything that moves (though they prefer pork and noodles if they can afford them). Some Central American tribes enjoy roast tarantula.
Ancient Sumerians never ate any fish, believing it to be poisonous. This belief was also widespread in the Middle Ages in Europe (the French word “poisson” for “fish” comes to mind). Orthodox Jews and their cultural and religious plagiarists, the Muslims, cannot stand the thought of eating pork. In Israel, the law requires that swine should not touch the Jewish soil. As a result, non-believers raise swine in Israel on platforms made of wooden planks. Israeli pork is abundant good. But you’d never find pork in Turkey or in Egypt. Being non-orthodox in Muslim countries can go only so far; but you can kill your wife there if you suspect that she is unfaithful. The authorities may give you a slap on the wrist for that, but they will stone your wide to death if you ask them. Angela Merkel wouln’d survive a day in some Muslim regions where I lived time to time.
I’ve met Americans who viewed traditional, delicious Russian foods as utterly disgusting (“Yuck, fish eggs!”), unhealthy (“Salt pork fat with rye bread? It’ll kill you!”) or dangerous (“Wild mushroom soup??? No, thanks, I wouldn’t think of trying it!”)
However, tastes of different peoples, as well as the possibility of eating insects and worms, is not the point here. The point is that green activists hate the civilisation that feeds them, they want to destroy our traditions, they are illogical and suicidal. When it comes to the destruction of Western way of life, everything goes for them, that’s why they are in bed with the Sharia Islam: the worse, the better!
Besides, insects form the largest biomass on Earth that produces far more methane than cattle. Let green activists chew cockroaches, if they so prefer. Parasites feel an affinity toward parasites, I reckon.

Patrick MJD
October 28, 2016 3:45 am

Bugs on cheese makes cheese taste as it does. Bacteria on chicken adds to flavour. Many Asian cultures deep fat fry pretty much any insect or arachnid. Even Dr. David Bellamy supports this, as well as worms. I even recall him eating “worm cake” back in the 70’s or 80’s, as the future of food. I think he was in the “global warming” camp back then though.

ozspeaksup
October 28, 2016 5:51 am

if you werent puking already?
enjoy….
Scientists think cockroach milk could be the superfood of the future …
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-show-why-we-should-al... Proxy Highlight
25 Jul 2016 … Although most cockroaches don’t actually produce milk, Diploptera punctate, which is the only known cockroach to give birth to live young, has …

Zeke
October 29, 2016 6:28 pm
October 30, 2016 2:34 pm

I think we should all eat our Greens.