I'm not meaning to pick on Brazil this week, but this news item about what two of its scientists used to make the flour they in turn made into bread demands an immediate response.
And since Andressa Lucas and Lauren Menegon made their flour from cockroaches the response can only be the one contained in the post headline.
But, they say, even a mixture of 10 percent cockroach flour increases the bread's protein content by 50 percent.
No damn way.
The difference in taste, they suggest, is all but imperceptible.
No damn way.
The United Nations says we will run out of land to farm to feed the number of people on Earth by 2050, and "insect farming" will probably be necessary to avoid mass starvation.
No damn way.
Insect farming is much less greenhouse-y and thus easier on the climate.
No damn way.
Insect flour can be completely used, with no residue.
No damn way.
The two scientists are now turning their attention to developing usable insect flour from crickets and mealworm beetles. It's beyond me why someone doesn't speak to them about this before they turn more bugs into bread.
The day "they" insist I eat food containing (by design) insect parts is the day I turn militant vegan.
ReplyDelete(I know, I know: there are FDA standards about "accidental" parts, and you can't avoid them, but still: knowing it's there makes a difference)
Your Western upper class bias is showing. There is really nothing wrong with the prospect of using insect as a protein substitute. It is a sustainable supplement that is natural and would require very little capital to maintain. It could become a cash crop in areas of the world where farming is not sustainable. And it gives a needed nutrient to a product that is over-consumed.
ReplyDeleteI would prefer the mealworm to the cockroach, though.
p.s. Our processed grains (wheat flour, oats especially)are already legally allowed to include certain levels of insect parts. One estimate is that we consume 1-2 pounds of insect protein per year, already.
I didn't remember the exact numbers from when I worked in a cafeteria, but I knew there were allowable amounts.
ReplyDeleteAnd everybody else can eat what they want, just like me.