5 ms·
Maybe crickets and mealworms would be a good diet for prisoners but I'd personally rather eat rice and beans if I was on a limited income. Maybe have these far
by dm2 13y ago
Maybe crickets and mealworms would be a good diet for prisoners but I'd personally rather eat rice and beans if I was on a limited income.
Maybe have these farms available for very poor countries?
I just don't see the desire to eat crickets and worms.
And forget about a social life or dating once they find out you raise and eat crickets and worms, doesn't matter how good you are at explaining the concept.
Am I missing something?
- ams6110 13y agoGood source of protein and fats, and often plentiful in the absence of agriculture. It's mostly a cultural aversion. Eating insects is/was common in hunter-gatherer cultures.
- nawitus 13y agoVegetables are a better source of protein and healthy fats, and they're more efficient. Insects are just animals that inefficiently convert calories into animal protein. On top of that it's not ethical to eat animals.
- gknoy 13y agoCan you elaborate on why it's not ethical to eat insects?
- nawitus 13y agoInsects can feel pain and it's unethical to kill animals unnecessarily.
- ams6110 13y agoI find eating to be necessary. YMMV.
- jtreminio 13y agoI wonder if it would be possible to only eat as much of the animal as you will consume in one sitting, leaving the animal alive and just removing extremities piecemeal for consumption.
- SeanDav 13y agoThere are a lot of unethical spiders out there....
- kiba 13y agoHumans raise meats for no other reason that they're tastier than vegetables. If we're going to eat meat, we might as well choose the most efficient source of meat, such as insects, at least until meat-in-a-vat becomes reality.
- pampa 13y agoCould I have a grass fed mealworm rib-eye steak please? :)
- VladRussian2 13y ago>Vegetables are a better source of protein and healthy fats, and they're more efficient not necessarily, otherwise there wouldn't be carnivores/predators. And vegetables may be not very well available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4H8JHoSrSs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4H8JHoSrSs >Insects are just animals that inefficiently convert calories into animal protein. somebody converting calories into animal protein saves a carnivore a need to have longer/bigger/heavier gastrointestinal tract than it otherwise has to have. Thus carnivore can have more efficient body for movement (and thinking - apes started to become humans ones they started to scavenge and eat meat about 2 million years ago, though it is not meat eating alone or primarily, the primary trigger was scavenging and later hunting activities that caused our ancestors to pick a stone and stick as a weapon ) Note: personally moving toward vegetarianism (mostly for ethical reasons), not there yet, as of now have completely dropped beef, lamb, pork and am eating more vegetables and fish.
- ceejayoz 13y ago> On top of that it's not ethical to eat animals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipse_dixit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipse_dixit
- GigabyteCoin 13y agoHave you ever stopped to wonder just how many insects are wiped out when a farmer protects (re: pesticides) and/or harvests his crop of vegetables? What is the more ethical way for an insect to go? Mass starvation? Mass graves created from pesticide use? Or being grown for human consumption?
- sitkack 13y agoThe best pesticide is an army of biological robots evolved to hunt down insects. Aka, the Chicken!
- d2vid 13y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy#Environmental_benefits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy#Environmental_benef... Insects are far more efficient than livestock. Also, you can feed them things that humans can't eat (like rice stalks and husks) so they can be an environmental net win.
- hcarvalhoalves 13y ago> Insects are just animals that inefficiently convert calories into animal protein. Non-sense. Insects, like other animals, are calories condensers that the human body can actually absorb. We don't have a rumen.
- DanBC 13y ago> Am I missing something? It's a normal food in many parts of the world. Apart from that, you're right about it having a big "yuck" factor for most people. At the moment it's going to be brave early adopters, finding out what's nice, and what's got too much exoskeleton. (Chitinous legs stuck in your teeth is off-putting.) Cereal volume 3 has a nice article about the various types of bugs and where they're eaten. (http://readcereal.com/magazine/ http://readcereal.com/magazine/) I might be about to raise and eat insects, but my child definitely will. (Consider that children often eat bugs from the garden, and it's only the reaction from horrified parents that stops them doing it!)
- erikig 13y agoI think some better marketing will be needed as well. It might seem strange and off-putting to eat bugs but eating lobster, shrimp and crawdads has similar challenges and these have become commonplace - even delicacies - for most. How long until we have a Squeaky Cricket or Brown Roach right next to Red Lobster?
- thejteam 13y agoAnd don't forget oysters. Nature's oil filter. And they look like snot. But damn they are good.
- mdellabitta 13y agoActually, I rather eat crickets than Red Lobster. That place scares me...
- marshray 13y agoWell they're both arthropods. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod
- hcarvalhoalves 13y agoCrickets and worms I don't know, but if you ever get a taste of ants or tarantulas you will think why the hell are people not eating it.