Bug Bites

For some, eating insects or entomophagy is a dare, for others – around two billion people worldwide – it’s a way of life. Insects like these being fried and sold at a market stall in Bangkok are more than just a novelty snack. Grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, even caterpillars and dragonflies offer a sustainable source of protein they may be the key to solving a worldwide food shortage. First though, a couple of challenges – new technologies must be developed to process vast swarms of bugs – extracting valuable nutrients at a massive scale, while education programmes will hopefully break down a stigma or two. New methods to farm and process the insects aim to boost their use in mainstream cooking ingredients like flour, while the protein chitin, extracted from certain insect exoskeletons, has a surprising list of uses from food preservation to surgical thread.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image by Takoradee
• Research from Inst. de Ciencias Básicas, Univ. Veracruzana, Veracruz, Mexico
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY-SA 3.0)
• Research published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, June 2019