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People aren't ready for it, but we should be eating bugs. Boca-bug-burgers would be an infinitely renewable 'meat' and farmable on massive scales, without dest

People aren't ready for it, but we should be eating bugs. Boca-bug-burgers would be an infinitely renewable 'meat' and farmable on massive scales, without destroying forests or watersheds. Without subjecting users to antibiotics. Bug-burgers for the win.

candiddevmike 2y ago
I keep looking at ordering cricket flour but it's so expensive. Bug-based stuff needs to come considerably in price for folks to get on board IMO. FWIW, more than 25% of humans eat bugs regularly around the world.
- Tutafrankjonas 2y ago
  Bugs don't come without the problems of bacteria, viruses or parasites.
b112 2y ago
The problem isn't cattle, it's big agriculture. As soon as everyone eats bugs, then industrial big farms will start up, and all the worrisome problems discussed will appear with bugs too.
- supportengineer 2y ago
  "Microplastics found in protein bugs"
  - b112 2y ago
    Along with crops grown and fed to bugs, after all, they need to eat to grow. There will also be crowding, bugs feeding a country aren't going to be wild harvested, how would you even do that, and we'd need massive quantities. So disease would be a thing. And we'd need massive amounts of water too, and we'd have massive amounts of leavings, just as with cattle. Any "but we can just" scenarios, like using their leavings as fertilizer, can also be done with cattle. Some bugs are likely smarter that the cattle I've been around, and they feel pain, so what of the bug activists? What of the queen, and the hive mind? Are we going to claim we know that they aren't feeling pain from crowding, or their situation? What happens when we harvest in the same area over and over, a massive building just for this? Bugs excrete chemical warnings to communicate, and poison during stress, will these all build up month after month of harvest? There are endless questions to be resolved, but all I hear is "well we can just...." eat bugs, with no other validation or justification about scale, safety, etc.
hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
Yuck. I don't know if you're serious, but it's not an either-or Hobson's choice. There are plenty of alternatives.
JasserInicide 2y ago
No, we should eat what we want and instead focus on more sustainable practices for what we have now
shrubble 2y ago
Feed the bugs to chickens or ducks, and I am in!
cageface 2y ago
It's quite easy to get all the nutrition you need from plants. No bug eating necessary.
Tutafrankjonas 2y ago
Do you think bugs come without bacteria, viruses and parasites? :D
Newlaptop 2y ago
The funny thing is, we already do eat bugs, we just don't call it as such. Lobster, crab, shrimp, crawfish, mussels, clams. If you go to very small bugs- the yeast that ferments beer, cheese, kimchi, pickles, saurkraut, yoghurt. We also eat honey made by bugs. In some places spiders are eaten as are scorpions. Also of course, every time you eat bread, pasta, rice or any grain product you're also eating small amounts of bugs that were ground up in the process. It's an arbitrary cultural thing. Is it weird to eat the flesh of a mammal? Weird to eat a fungus growing off a decaying log? Weird to eat seaweed? Weird to drink milk from a lactating mother cow? Weird to eat a cricket?

candiddevmike 2y ago

I keep looking at ordering cricket flour but it's so expensive. Bug-based stuff needs to come considerably in price for folks to get on board IMO. FWIW, more than 25% of humans eat bugs regularly around the world.

Tutafrankjonas 2y ago
Bugs don't come without the problems of bacteria, viruses or parasites.

b112 2y ago

The problem isn't cattle, it's big agriculture. As soon as everyone eats bugs, then industrial big farms will start up, and all the worrisome problems discussed will appear with bugs too.

supportengineer 2y ago
"Microplastics found in protein bugs"
- b112 2y ago
  Along with crops grown and fed to bugs, after all, they need to eat to grow. There will also be crowding, bugs feeding a country aren't going to be wild harvested, how would you even do that, and we'd need massive quantities. So disease would be a thing. And we'd need massive amounts of water too, and we'd have massive amounts of leavings, just as with cattle. Any "but we can just" scenarios, like using their leavings as fertilizer, can also be done with cattle. Some bugs are likely smarter that the cattle I've been around, and they feel pain, so what of the bug activists? What of the queen, and the hive mind? Are we going to claim we know that they aren't feeling pain from crowding, or their situation? What happens when we harvest in the same area over and over, a massive building just for this? Bugs excrete chemical warnings to communicate, and poison during stress, will these all build up month after month of harvest? There are endless questions to be resolved, but all I hear is "well we can just...." eat bugs, with no other validation or justification about scale, safety, etc.

hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago

Yuck. I don't know if you're serious, but it's not an either-or Hobson's choice. There are plenty of alternatives.

JasserInicide 2y ago

No, we should eat what we want and instead focus on more sustainable practices for what we have now

shrubble 2y ago

Feed the bugs to chickens or ducks, and I am in!

cageface 2y ago

It's quite easy to get all the nutrition you need from plants. No bug eating necessary.

Tutafrankjonas 2y ago

Do you think bugs come without bacteria, viruses and parasites? :D

Newlaptop 2y ago

The funny thing is, we already do eat bugs, we just don't call it as such. Lobster, crab, shrimp, crawfish, mussels, clams. If you go to very small bugs- the yeast that ferments beer, cheese, kimchi, pickles, saurkraut, yoghurt. We also eat honey made by bugs. In some places spiders are eaten as are scorpions. Also of course, every time you eat bread, pasta, rice or any grain product you're also eating small amounts of bugs that were ground up in the process. It's an arbitrary cultural thing. Is it weird to eat the flesh of a mammal? Weird to eat a fungus growing off a decaying log? Weird to eat seaweed? Weird to drink milk from a lactating mother cow? Weird to eat a cricket?