Here are 10 reasons eating bugs may be a better idea than eating meat.
on.aol.com
Many consider it to be the diet of the future. It’s sustainable, high in protein, high in fiber, super low calorie and very versatile. The problem is, most Americans would kind of balk at the idea. The possibility of eating bugs as a main part of any meal seems just short of torture and maybe even a bit crazy unless done for sport or on a dare. After all, aren’t bugs the kinds of things you don’t want in your food?
Twitter
Many will be surprised to learn that a cricket flour protein bar is much healthier than most protein bars gracing grocery and health food store shelves today. In a news story asking whether anyone should eat modern day protein bars at all, KSDK.com reported, Mar. 6 that the bulk of them are closer to candy bars than the healthy snacks or meals comsumers make them out to be. Many of them are high in fat, sugar, calories, carbohydrates and sometimes don’t even have enough protein to justify them being called a protein bar.
The BBC wrote about one U.S. student named Camren Brantley-Rios who recently completed a 30 day “bug diet” in which he ate insects at three meals a day. He is one of those who touts insects to be the diet of the future because animal products and byproducts such as beef and pork are so incredibly unsustainable. He gave it a shot and even kept a blog about it.Brantley-Rios turned crickets, mealworms and cockroaches into the protein part of his meals and each day, he featured pictures of everything from bug burgers to mealworm stir fries, and from sweet chile cricket topped pizzas to even commercially produced items that he said made him feel as if he was cheating.
It’s true, an omelette with avocado and meal worms falling out of it or perhaps some macaroni and cheese with the worms stirred in would make most folks’ stomachs turn. Still, there is a growing number of entrepreneurs working to make edible insects palatable. Two such companies -- Chapul and Exo, for example -- make energy and protein bars from crickets. Exo’s “sustainable fuel” bars are gluten free, soy free, grain free and contain no dairy. Further, they ring in at 10 grams of protein and come in many, seemingly wonderful flavors. According to EXO’s Facebook page, Brantley-Rios ate some of them on his challenge. He also tried Chapul’s bars and a granola product -- from a company called Hopper -- that is completely grain free and seemingly better for you than most store bought granola.
The Hopper website reads that their mission “is to help normalise entomophagy (eating insects) by creating great tasting, nutritious and healthy products that people will want to eat every day.” In one of their videos, they consider themselves as evangelists who do this work because insects provide high quality protein from a sustainable source. “We want to introduce this to a wider audience at home,” they say. Insects are in many cultures, a highly prized delicacy and along with the clean protein that comes from -- say, crickets -- the mineral content compares with that of beef.
“Other bug-based food producers are emerging, encouraged by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation’s championing of insects,” reported FT.com and just as the California Roll served as a gateway to sushi’s popularity, cricket bars may serve as a gateway to a mainstream acceptance in the U.S. of bugs, regularly, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So how about it? Bugs for Dinner, anyone?
*originally published on the now defunct Examiner.com
No comments:
Post a Comment