What's an insects favourite sport? Cricket! - Cricket Protein

There is a massive cricket-processing facility that has opened in London, Ontario, which aims to produce 13 million kilograms (kg) of cricket protein annually. They will be mostly selling these crickets to the pet-food market, but what about us humans? We can eat cricket, right?

Entomophagy - Which is the practice of eating insects, and it is not something new. Humans have been eating insects since prehistoric times. Many people today traditionally eat insects. Insects that are commonly eaten across the globe include beetles (31%), caterpillars (18%), bees, wasps, and ants (14%) and grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets (13%).

If insects are so commonly eaten across the globe, which country eats the most edible insects? And truth be told, it was Mexico.

Photos taken by Marc Wilkinson. I, the copyright holder, hereby publish these photos under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Common edible insects that are eaten in Mexico include: Chapulínes (Grasshoppers) flavoured with chilli, lime and salt, Gusanos de Maguey (Maguey Worms), and Chicatanas (Flying Ants).

You will find people in Europe that may eat caterpillars, crickets, flies, and cazu marzu cheese. In South East Asia, wasps, crickets, bee larvae, grasshoppers, centipedes, and scorpions are commonly eaten.

So my spidey senses started tingling again. I did a little more research because I figured the homeland had to be eating edible insects, too. And in Ghana, these are nine major edible insects that are commonly eaten.

1. Palm weevil larvae

2. Termites

3. Ground crickets

4. Field crickets

5. House crickets

6. Grasshoppers

7. Locusts

8. Shea tree caterpillars

9. Scarab beetle larvae

Now, I haven't seen with my two eyes the consumption of these edible insects, but I'm sure it must be true. Prior to the mass production of our typical protein animals such as cattle and chicken, we as a civilization needed to get energy and protein from somewhere. Therefore, none of this is taboo but more something that has been phased out overtime. Yet it is making a comeback...

But why crickets?

They are packed with protein and fibre. Overall, they have the long-term potential to become a major protein source which can address food insecurity across the globe. The options are endless.

Will crickets save the world?

They may not save the world, but 4 reasons cricket protein may be beneficial.

1. Super Freak - They reproduce rapidly, almost 1500 eggs every 30 days

2. Air Friendly - Less greenhouse gases

3. Versatile - Different textures such as a paste, flour, or whole

4. Cricket Years - Age to adulthood faster

How can YOU add crickets into your diet?

Easily! Cricket powder is coming into the market and it allows you to easily add crickets into your diet. You can put it on your yogurt parfait, bake it into some muffins, blend it in your smoothie, mix it into your energy bars, or even eat it whole!

How do you like your cricket?

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Citations:

Anankware, Jacob & Fening, Ken & Osekre, Enoch & Obeng-Ofori, D.. (2015). Insects as food and feed: A review. International Journal of Agricultural Research and Review. 3. 143-152.

van Huis, A. (2013). Potential of insects as food and feed in assuring food security. Annual Review of Entomology, 58(1), 563–583. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153704

#ThatBlackRD #insects #crickets #silkworms #protein