Just imagine yourself walking into a hip restaurant in Paris. You start by ordering a glass of “vin naturel” (organic wine). Then, you look and see these items featured on the menu:
- Palm weevils with beetroot and oil of truffle.
- Water scorpion with preserved peppers and black garlic.
- Grasshoppers with quail’s eggs.
These snacks sell for eight to ten Euros ($10-14 US) each. Many of the diners come to this restaurant for the novelty value. But, as the alcohol flows, the orders tend to multiply.
To you and I, this is insect-eating. However, the French prefer to call it – “entomophagy.”
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report earlier this year. The report predicts that with the world’s population heading to nine billion, the demand for animal protein will double by 2050. They listed 1,900 species of insects that might be used to fill the gap.
Insect-eating has been a growing interest in Europe. Research programs are underway to develop methods of small-scale insect farming in France and the Netherlands.
Large-scale insect-farming has proved technologically and financially impossible.
“No one has yet been able to produce inspects on an industrial scale,” said Jen-Gabriel Levon, who runs a small business involved with the research program. “We need to improve our understanding of the physiology of insects and their needs.”
So, the United Nations wants for all of us to start eating bugs. Do you really think the United Nations Secretary General and all of our world leaders will have baked scorpions for dinner tonight?
