1. Insects are more sustainable and ethical than chicken, pork, or beef…maybe even fish!
2. The UN has advocated for eating insects
3. Growing grain and then feeding it to animals so we can in turn eat them is incredibly inefficient.
4. Insects require much less land to raise and they are cold-blooded, so they require less feed per unit of body weight to sustain themselves
5. We can consume the insect’s entire bodies, wasting little flesh.
6. Insects are a highly nutritious protein source.
7. Pound for pound, eating insects provides similar levels of protein and often less fat than conventional meats like beef, chicken, and fish.
8. Insects have significantly higher levels of nutrients like iron, zinc, and calcium. (This is because we can eat them ground into a fine powder, exoskeleton and all).
9. Insects are a good source of vitamin B12 – an essential vitamin that is hard for vegans to come by.
10. Maybe it’s more humane. If you feel bad about the pain that cows feel when slaughtered, perhaps you will be comforted by the studies that claim insects don’t feel pain(given the structure of their nervous system).
11. The main objection to consuming insects is that they are gross… and that’s just arbitrary. 80% of the world already eats insects. Meats considered fit for consumption vary widely from culture to culture. Some cultures eat horse meat, Americans find that appalling. Americans eat cow meat, but in India cow meat is taboo. (One time raw fish – sushi – was considered taboo in the US).
12. Crickets are closely related to shrimp. I hope you like shrimp.
13. Most insects have a mild, malleable taste… kinda like tofu.
14. We … uh … already eat insects all of the time. The last jar of peanut butter you ate, for example, likely had over 50 insect fragments in it. Every 100 grams of chocolate has about 60 fragments of various insect species. A pack of frozen broccoli has around 60 aphids per 100 grams. In total, we eat about two pounds of insects each year.
15. Insect-based foods are becoming more popular and easier to buy. Instead of just going to your local pet store to buy crickets, you can now shop at places like Exo, Ento,Six Foods, World Ento, All Things Bugs, Thailand Unique, Aspire US, and more.
…So what are you waiting for? If you still have doubts… just email me. We’ll talk 🙂
You say insects don’t feel pain. Aren’t they a living thing?