Why Aren’t We Eating More Insects?

From the article:

1- the European ice age eliminated almost all of the edible insects in the continent, meaning it's never been a good idea there 2- they live in and on rot and decay, and are otherwise unsanitary

We like meat from animals because it can be butchered without too much contamination. We dislike non-meaty textures- heck, I won't eat chicken feet not only because of the texture, but because what do you think chickens walk around all day in?

Sure, there's limited exceptions- pork cracklins and tripe, though most westerners also refuse to eat those as well.

The comparison to crustaceans is unfair, since most people don't eat the shells of lobsters or crabs, only the fleshy bits. Ultimately, barring some seafood and small game, we're conditioned to not eat the entire animal at once, only the parts that appeal to us. Meat on its own, guts and other soft bits in sausage, bones for broth. Eating insects invariably means that what you eat looks like what it is- an animal.

The article goes on to sing the praises of eating insects- good protein, environmentally friendly, cheap, so on and so forth. That sounds nice, but it doesn't change the appeal of eating an animal whole, or thinking about that same animal living its entire life among a pile of rotten food and poop.

A strong imagination does it for me. I used to love eating lamb, but in my teens my father took me to a friends house where I partook in slaughtering a lamb and later eating it. Now I find eating lamb utterly disgusting. If I even smell lamb it reminds me of how the animal wailed around as it was dying and the smell of its intestines and skin as we butchered it.

Same idea with insects - when I picture someone eating insects, I get reminded of the smells, the sounds, and worst of all where they've been. Bees?! Ever seen a portable toilet in the summer when the doors are left cracked open and insects get into? Bees on human feces. No thanks.

I am not opposed to people eating insects.

However, as I am someone who already does not eat meat, is there a compelling reason for me to start eating insects?

Would adding insects to my diet be, for example, more eco-friendly/sustainable than my plant-based diet?

I don't think I have a diversification need that is not currently satisfied, either nutritionally or for enjoyment of variety.

Because we find them disgusting and there are many cheap alternative foods that we don’t find disgusting.

Of course it’s probably irrational, but that’s the way it is.

Didn't evolution across the land-bridges groom us to be different at the core in some areas given the amount of time passing? Why do I immediately find certain things super gross? It feels like its within me rather than a learned behavior. Possibly these feelings are from my ancestry passing them on? One of the reasons I say this is because I tried korean "mediche", don't know actual spelling but its very tiny dried fish with their eyes still on. It sounds gross but is very tasty and strangely I was never grossed out by this as they do look like tiny fish. The same goes for sardines. Why fish with eyes on doesn't gross me out but the sight of larvae makes me want to gag?

Probably because you would need to harvest immense amounts for them to work as a staple food source, and their pretty bland flavor, at least of the various sorts I've tried, is not really something likely to make them a luxury food source, though I'd have said the same thing about caviar.

With modern farming technology the mass cultivation may be possible, but for times past compare this to something like a single decent sized whitetail deer that can provide upwards of 100 pounds of edible meat. One deer = months of food. One insect = minutes/seconds of food.

I wonder if an insect based food economy scales. A few years ago, several of my friends were getting into generating biodiesel - they were so excited to be able to go to restarauntd and try to buy up their grease. But it turns out that once a critical mass of consumers (nowhere near the local population) started doing this, it was no longer viable to “make your own” economically. If let’s Say a cricket contains 10kC, and you need 200 a day, how do you scale that to city size populations?

I suspect the answer will be mushrooms or yeast, ultimately.

This is a cultural/marketing issue, although at this point I'm not sure how separated those are. Also, when I call it an issue, I mean it seriously. The ecological impact of insect production is so much lower than other meats. Non-scientific responses of 'gross/revolting/disgusting' are perfect examples of negative cultural responses to insects as food, rather than scientific ones.

At this point (with cricket powders, et al) I think a big reason is because it's so dang expensive.

If crickets are touted as this miracle protein that are easy to farm, low impact on the environment, and are still considered to be undesirable, then why are these companies charging $35/lb for their protein powder when you can get whey or pea powder for $6-8/lb?

Because nobody in the west has figured out a good way of preparing them yet.

Lobster (essentially a giant cockroach that lives in the water) was once considered revolting too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster#As_food

It's because nobody had figured out how to prepare it yet.

Mainly because insects are expensive. Sure, they need less food than conventional livestock but they are very labour-intensive.

You typically need thousands of insects to get the same amount of protein as a chicken. You can raise several chickens per square meter but you can't raise the equivalent number of insects in that space which means you either need more real estate (expensive) or typically more labour with insects in many shelves or boxes stacked up. And each of these shelves or boxes requires cleaning, feeding, watering, temperature control...

Without a huge revolution in technology to automate all of these tasks you have to employ a small army of human workers which is only really viable in lower wage countries.

You simply can't produce insects suitable for human consumption at less than $20/kg whereas chickens can sell for just a few dollars per kg. And when the consumer is given the choice between delicious, cheap, tried and tested vs unknown, expensive they will always choose chicken.

Because we don't want to. We don't we eat less meat? (not a vegan, just don't particular care for the "tons of meat every day" lifestyle that takes tons of resources).

I haven't read the article, but one reason may be the unappetizing portrail. The photographs in this article are bleak and chaotic, in sharp contrast to the colorful and organized way food is depicted nowadays.

Unrelated, I've encountered energy bars with an insect: Standard energy bars, but extra expensive and with minuscule amounts of insect. Selling cheap eco-friendly insects as an expensive "cool" gimmick is a cruel sort of irony.

Why not just switch to plant-based sources of protein instead? The idea that we have to eat animals to be healthy isn't supported by modern science.

The idea that only in "the West" are insect not consumed is misleading. I've been living in "the East" for a decade now, and had to pull some connections to get crickets in Thailand, or water cockroaches in China. Those are consumed, but not staples (just like French people don't feed on a snails and frog diet).

How to write about eating insects:

Muse about why Europeans don't eat insects. Claim that eating insects is a big thing in Asia, Africa, and various indigenous cultures. Mention seafood. Talk about some new insect farming and processing ventures. Point out the supposed eco-friendly advantage. Point out that they are rich in protein. Point out that they're cheap to raise. Make a quip about how we're already eating insects because tiny minuscule bits end up in processed foods.

because the idea is inherently revolting

Maybe we should first feed insects to the animals/plants we prefer to eat.

To avoid a whole new class of zoonotic diseases?

This reads like a rhetorical question, but I’ll take a swing at it anyhow: because it’s gross.

Edit: Sorry entomophages didn’t mean to offend.