I've said this before on Tildes but I'll say it again: there's no reason to eat bugs. People talk about how bugs are a great cheap source of protein and it's so much better than animal...
I've said this before on Tildes but I'll say it again: there's no reason to eat bugs. People talk about how bugs are a great cheap source of protein and it's so much better than animal agriculture. And yes, that's absolutely true. But it's also something that the vast majority of people on this earth find incredibly gross, and a good number of people actually find them scary. In the meanwhile there is a food source that shares those claims but few people are disgusted by and nobody is afraid of - beans.
It just continuously surprises me that there are people who are so fixed on the idea of eating meat but at the same time so turned off by beans and other protein-rich plants that they decide to eat bugs instead. They must exist, but the headspace it requires is alien to me. I haven't eaten crickets myself, but I can't imagine it being a better analogue for meat than soy chunks.
I've said as much in the other comment but there is a little bit of a false dichotomy going on here. It's not either/or, it's and/and. Mealed bugs do not look like bugs (though as a Western...
I've said as much in the other comment but there is a little bit of a false dichotomy going on here. It's not either/or, it's and/and.
Mealed bugs do not look like bugs (though as a Western European I personally don't mind if they look like bugs either) so the only thing left is the idea that it's icky. Something people don't seem to have problems with when it comes to the wholesale slaughter of larger animals. It's the same thing, just smaller.
It's estimated that hundreds of millions to two billion people worldwide eat insects, yet North America and Europe are the only places they're made unrecognisable on purpose. This is a cultural thing, not a humankind thing, and we're very much capable of making that cultural switch a possibility.
What it enables is even more food variety and food resilience, while ostensibly also able to reduce the absurd amount of cattle currently damaging our world simply by being an alternative that exists.
but I can't imagine it being a better analogue for meat than soy chunks.
Much like vegetarians or vegans don't always need an analogue for meat, bugs don't have to be either.
I’m really talking more specifically about the concept of bugs as a replacement to meat as a protein source. Contrary to the current fad, we in the western world do not have a problem with protein...
I’m really talking more specifically about the concept of bugs as a replacement to meat as a protein source. Contrary to the current fad, we in the western world do not have a problem with protein intake. Protein deficiency is relatively rare, and if anything we eat too much protein. Resiliency is also not a problem; we create enough food to feed the world and most of the reasons why people starve tend to have political reasons behind them.
The problem with meat is that we eat too much of it, and while cow meat for bug meat will lessen the impact, it’s a much worse option than cutting out the middleman and eating the protein directly from plants. The fact that we eat meat at all is also cultural, so why is it better to move culture towards bugs than simply away from meat?
Resilience from diversity in the food we eat is always a good idea, especially with the accelerating rates of climate change, because you never know when a disaster will knock down one of the...
Resiliency is also not a problem; we create enough food to feed the world and most of the reasons why people starve tend to have political reasons behind them.
Resilience from diversity in the food we eat is always a good idea, especially with the accelerating rates of climate change, because you never know when a disaster will knock down one of the pillars you’re relying on. Taken to an extreme example, championing a reduction in variety leads to effectively monoculture. I don’t think I have deep enough understanding to explain why food monocultures are bad but I’m hoping this isn’t something I need to win you over on.
The fact that we eat meat at all is also cultural, so why is it better to move culture towards bugs than simply away from meat?
To your specific example of beans, I know enough people who have legume intolerances who would have a really rough time if they tried to switch to beans for their protein intake. I’m not going to suggest it would be impossible, but certainly would be a challenge.
Food monocultures are bad, yes, but "plants" are not a monoculture by definition. It's an entire classification that contains hundreds of thousands of species. There are many kinds of plants, for...
Food monocultures are bad, yes, but "plants" are not a monoculture by definition. It's an entire classification that contains hundreds of thousands of species. There are many kinds of plants, for instance, that are edible but have not been cultivated for commercial purposes. Plants are also the primary creators of ecosystems, so while specific plants may not be tenable in some areas due to climate change, others may end up flourishing.
Beans are not the only source of protein. Grains and seeds are also high in protein, for instance. Legumes just have a higher ratio of protein to other macros. In fact, every plant has some degree of protein in it; proteins are, after all, necessary for life.
There's also no reason to eat meat, dairy, or non-plant-based, as many vegans are quick to remind us. Not that I adhere to that line of thought, but I'm not agreeing with you on this one. I've...
I've said this before on Tildes but I'll say it again: there's no reason to eat bugs.
There's also no reason to eat meat, dairy, or non-plant-based, as many vegans are quick to remind us. Not that I adhere to that line of thought, but I'm not agreeing with you on this one. I've eaten a few bugs, just as a novelty (not counting the spider amount we allegedly eat during our lifetime), and I have no qualms trying new stuff. That has included the sweet and savory tofu restaurant in NYC, crawfish, pferdwurst, and a number of other oddities.
Just because it's not everyone's cup of tea doesn't mean "there's no reason" is a reason to avoid it. ;)
It’s so bizarre when I see this because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the origin of this joke, a passing quip by Stuart Ashen. It’s strange that it’s part of the social fabric now.
It’s so bizarre when I see this because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the origin of this joke, a passing quip by Stuart Ashen. It’s strange that it’s part of the social fabric now.
In August 2023, Business Insider referred to Donald Trump as the "'Spiders Georg' of world leaders", as his indictments on 91 felony counts yielded the statistic that the average number of felony charges per U.S. president was two.[8]
I'm definitely averse enough to eating bugs that look like bugs, but when they're processed into a form-factor that doesn't visibly resemble a bug that doesn't seem to be an issue -- why should I...
I'm definitely averse enough to eating bugs that look like bugs, but when they're processed into a form-factor that doesn't visibly resemble a bug that doesn't seem to be an issue -- why should I as an arachnophobe care, for instance, about eating spider protein if there's nothing about its physical form that reminds me of a spider?
I also have a really strong aversion to most beans (I think it's an autism texture thing but idk for sure, as there are a decent variety of beans that can have pretty different textures that I'm all averse to), but that's solved in the same way as the ick factor with eating insects -- by making the processed output not resemble beans. Afaik most existing veggie burgers made with beans already do this.
Yeah I’m not eating bugs until I have to. People offer me bugs occasionally and thats what I say to them. I’m sure its fine, healthy, nutritious, the karetin will only fuck with my stomach a...
Yeah I’m not eating bugs until I have to.
People offer me bugs occasionally and thats what I say to them. I’m sure its fine, healthy, nutritious, the karetin will only fuck with my stomach a little at first, but nah. I figure the day will come when me and my herp babies have to share meals, until then thats a nope from me.
Agreed! I'm not sure what those investors were thinking when they poured money into this effort. Ultimately, growing plants to feed to crickets is less efficient than just eating the plants, and...
Agreed! I'm not sure what those investors were thinking when they poured money into this effort. Ultimately, growing plants to feed to crickets is less efficient than just eating the plants, and -- as you note -- can create a larger amount of polarization in consumers used to a western diet. Given that there's only a fixed amount of government funding floating around for initiatives like this, I'd've expected cricket farming to be deprioritized pretty severely compared to other efforts (e.g. Canadian TVP factories, and whatnot).
I recall a CBC video covering an attempt at producing soy protein domestically, and that seems like a much more sound investment!
The theory behind promoting insect protein is that it's suitable for mass production with minimal inputs in places where conventional agriculture can't produce enough - urban landscapes, or...
The theory behind promoting insect protein is that it's suitable for mass production with minimal inputs in places where conventional agriculture can't produce enough - urban landscapes, or marginal water and fertile soil availability.
You can farm bugs on food waste and plant matter that's unsuitable for human or animal consumption, and hot, dry climates are favorable for lowering costs. The CO2 footprint is probably close to mechanized soybean farming.
Of course, siting insect protein production in a place that requires high energy input for heating and light, where there are many protein alternatives more palatable to the local market, labor costs are high, and there's no local knowledge, is a high-risk strategy and someone should have foreseen that.
Even if they were willing, she said, crickets aren't cheap. A 454-gram bag of cricket powder can retail for $49.99 — more than even premium cuts of beef on a per-pound basis.
Yeah, that's insanely expensive! For further comparison, that 454g bag of cricket powder is the same price I pay for a 2kg bag of decent quality whey protein powder. And whey has the advantage of...
Yeah, that's insanely expensive! For further comparison, that 454g bag of cricket powder is the same price I pay for a 2kg bag of decent quality whey protein powder. And whey has the advantage of being highly water soluble so it's an incredibly versatile ingredient... Whereas I'm pretty sure cricket powder is mostly not water soluble so about the only thing it's good for is use as a baking ingredient.
Yep exactly what I was going to say, make it cheaper than the alternatives and people will eat it, simple. You're not going to shift the masses with the environmental factor alone. If it's viable...
Yep exactly what I was going to say, make it cheaper than the alternatives and people will eat it, simple.
You're not going to shift the masses with the environmental factor alone.
If it's viable and actually solving something is another question.
The headline and most of the article kinda hide the real issue, which only gets one paragraph of coverage: It wasn't that people weren't buying their cricket products - they weren't selling...
The headline and most of the article kinda hide the real issue, which only gets one paragraph of coverage:
Court documents show the London facility never came close to operating as planned. A system that worked at a small scale in Texas struggled to translate to Ontario, where differences in environment, ongoing design changes and problems with equipment all contributed to underperformance.
It wasn't that people weren't buying their cricket products - they weren't selling anything at all.
Unlike everyone else here, I was actually pretty excited to see this happening. I hoped it would bring down the price of cricket flour. But as far as I could tell, this facility never produced anything that was available for the consumer market. I don't know if they sold to other companies and it was distributed under a different name, but I tried to find products from this facility while it was open, and couldn't. So it didn't really matter whether it was too expensive - they weren't selling anything anyway.
And yeah, beans are a great source for protein. But chickpea flour makes me really gassy. Another alternative isn't a bad thing, as long as it can reach a reasonable price point.
Just in case you haven’t heard of this, the most common reason why people get gassy with beans of any type is simply because they are not well adapted to eating fiber. There are other reasons why...
Just in case you haven’t heard of this, the most common reason why people get gassy with beans of any type is simply because they are not well adapted to eating fiber. There are other reasons why beans can make you gassy, but it’s always good to check your fiber intake. There are a lot of tiny things where having good fiber intake improves your health, largely because of your gut microbiome.
What would you use cricket flour for? Are you celiac and trying to replace regular flour? How does it taste? Do you hand out cricket cookies on halloween?
What would you use cricket flour for? Are you celiac and trying to replace regular flour? How does it taste? Do you hand out cricket cookies on halloween?
No, I'm not celiac. In the bread I made, it didn't entirely replace the flour, it was added into the flour mixture, so it wouldn't be safe for celiacs. It tastes mildly nutty and a little earthy....
No, I'm not celiac. In the bread I made, it didn't entirely replace the flour, it was added into the flour mixture, so it wouldn't be safe for celiacs. It tastes mildly nutty and a little earthy. Somewhat similar to whole wheat flour, maybe with a bit stronger flavour. The texture (in bread) was closer to how rye flour acts, because crickets don't have any gluten. My recipe was just a normal sourdough loaf, but using about 20% cricket flour and 80% white flour. I don't think you could do a 100% cricket flour loaf that didn't just turn into a brick, but if it were a lot cheaper, I'd give it a try. I'd definitely make more cricket/wheat bread if cricket flour were cheaper, but until then, I think it was mostly just a novelty.
I mostly just enjoy experimenting with different flours, and also like the idea of replacing some of my animal protein intake with something other than beans. Beans are fine, but I do really enjoy making and eating bread, so if bread can cover two macronutrients, all the better!
If a recipe asks for whole wheat flour, it might be a suitable replacement (as long as you account for the lack of gluten). It might work in a more savoury cookie, or maybe a spiced cookie where the spices are really strong, but I feel like if it was just replacing white flour in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, it might dominate the flavour profile.
Ok this makes more sense now. I looked it up to get a visual reference and ya, I could see it being dense. Maybe mixed with some other non wheat flours it might be ok. My mother in law is gluten...
Ok this makes more sense now. I looked it up to get a visual reference and ya, I could see it being dense. Maybe mixed with some other non wheat flours it might be ok.
My mother in law is gluten intolerant and I might get her some cricket flour for a bit of a laugh regardless of how practical or impractical it might be.
Really, what it reveals is that the business didn't prove that there was a market at the price they could provide, nor that they could make their system work at the scale they thought they could,...
Really, what it reveals is that the business didn't prove that there was a market at the price they could provide, nor that they could make their system work at the scale they thought they could, but were able to convince people with money that they had the answers to a novel problem. If this wasn't cricket related, there would be no story here.
Back during the height of the cricket craze in 2013, I was doing initial review of financing proposals for small farming enterprises, and had a couple of different organizations ask for money to do smaller scale cricket farming enclosures for large scale farming. Every one of them was more thought out than "stick them in plastic bins." I don't know what techniques have developed in the last decade, but it does sound like Aspire Food Group wasn't using them. Pity.
I'm broadly enthusiastic about novel food sources, and think that crickets have a place in the array of things people would benefit from being open to eating. Personally, as someone with a mild shellfish intolerance (itchy mouth and digestional upset), I found that crickets triggered the same reactions. At least from my perspective, that makes them a poor candidate as a protein meal inclusion in other dishes, which is the commonly proposed way of hiding the fact that there's bugs in the food.
Somewhat disappointing but I get it. I’m not going to pay premium prices like that to eat crickets. I’m not really sure where crickets fit in my dietary plan, or if they even do unless it’s a very...
Somewhat disappointing but I get it. I’m not going to pay premium prices like that to eat crickets. I’m not really sure where crickets fit in my dietary plan, or if they even do unless it’s a very odd scenario — maybe in a first wave settler Mars colony where it somehow is the most efficient form of generating protein from extremely limited resources?
You could say that about Earth. Crickets are a good source of protein, especially in a world where cattle farming should become a little scarcer than it currently is. In my eyes it shouldn't...
You could say that about Earth. Crickets are a good source of protein, especially in a world where cattle farming should become a little scarcer than it currently is.
In my eyes it shouldn't supplant anything, just as an addition to. There's no reason to let a good source of food go unused.
I've had some fried crickets in Vietnam. They taste a little like nuts.
They are also great when baked into things. My family uses them in place of nuts in things like bread and brownies. They pretty much just taste like almonds to me.
They are also great when baked into things. My family uses them in place of nuts in things like bread and brownies. They pretty much just taste like almonds to me.
I've said this before on Tildes but I'll say it again: there's no reason to eat bugs. People talk about how bugs are a great cheap source of protein and it's so much better than animal agriculture. And yes, that's absolutely true. But it's also something that the vast majority of people on this earth find incredibly gross, and a good number of people actually find them scary. In the meanwhile there is a food source that shares those claims but few people are disgusted by and nobody is afraid of - beans.
It just continuously surprises me that there are people who are so fixed on the idea of eating meat but at the same time so turned off by beans and other protein-rich plants that they decide to eat bugs instead. They must exist, but the headspace it requires is alien to me. I haven't eaten crickets myself, but I can't imagine it being a better analogue for meat than soy chunks.
I've said as much in the other comment but there is a little bit of a false dichotomy going on here. It's not either/or, it's and/and.
Mealed bugs do not look like bugs (though as a Western European I personally don't mind if they look like bugs either) so the only thing left is the idea that it's icky. Something people don't seem to have problems with when it comes to the wholesale slaughter of larger animals. It's the same thing, just smaller.
It's estimated that hundreds of millions to two billion people worldwide eat insects, yet North America and Europe are the only places they're made unrecognisable on purpose. This is a cultural thing, not a humankind thing, and we're very much capable of making that cultural switch a possibility.
What it enables is even more food variety and food resilience, while ostensibly also able to reduce the absurd amount of cattle currently damaging our world simply by being an alternative that exists.
Much like vegetarians or vegans don't always need an analogue for meat, bugs don't have to be either.
I’m really talking more specifically about the concept of bugs as a replacement to meat as a protein source. Contrary to the current fad, we in the western world do not have a problem with protein intake. Protein deficiency is relatively rare, and if anything we eat too much protein. Resiliency is also not a problem; we create enough food to feed the world and most of the reasons why people starve tend to have political reasons behind them.
The problem with meat is that we eat too much of it, and while cow meat for bug meat will lessen the impact, it’s a much worse option than cutting out the middleman and eating the protein directly from plants. The fact that we eat meat at all is also cultural, so why is it better to move culture towards bugs than simply away from meat?
Resilience from diversity in the food we eat is always a good idea, especially with the accelerating rates of climate change, because you never know when a disaster will knock down one of the pillars you’re relying on. Taken to an extreme example, championing a reduction in variety leads to effectively monoculture. I don’t think I have deep enough understanding to explain why food monocultures are bad but I’m hoping this isn’t something I need to win you over on.
To your specific example of beans, I know enough people who have legume intolerances who would have a really rough time if they tried to switch to beans for their protein intake. I’m not going to suggest it would be impossible, but certainly would be a challenge.
Food monocultures are bad, yes, but "plants" are not a monoculture by definition. It's an entire classification that contains hundreds of thousands of species. There are many kinds of plants, for instance, that are edible but have not been cultivated for commercial purposes. Plants are also the primary creators of ecosystems, so while specific plants may not be tenable in some areas due to climate change, others may end up flourishing.
Beans are not the only source of protein. Grains and seeds are also high in protein, for instance. Legumes just have a higher ratio of protein to other macros. In fact, every plant has some degree of protein in it; proteins are, after all, necessary for life.
There's also no reason to eat meat, dairy, or non-plant-based, as many vegans are quick to remind us. Not that I adhere to that line of thought, but I'm not agreeing with you on this one. I've eaten a few bugs, just as a novelty (not counting the spider amount we allegedly eat during our lifetime), and I have no qualms trying new stuff. That has included the sweet and savory tofu restaurant in NYC, crawfish, pferdwurst, and a number of other oddities.
Just because it's not everyone's cup of tea doesn't mean "there's no reason" is a reason to avoid it. ;)
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share.
It’s so bizarre when I see this because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the origin of this joke, a passing quip by Stuart Ashen. It’s strange that it’s part of the social fabric now.
If you mean the origin of the Spiders Georg meme, it is a Tumblr post by Max Lavergne from 2013.
The actual spider-eating myth is a lot older, ofc.
So apparently Wikipedia has an article on Spiders Georg, and it has this choice quote:
Keep things classy, Wikipedia editors.
Honestly it's so surreal that it broke containment to that degree lol
I'm definitely averse enough to eating bugs that look like bugs, but when they're processed into a form-factor that doesn't visibly resemble a bug that doesn't seem to be an issue -- why should I as an arachnophobe care, for instance, about eating spider protein if there's nothing about its physical form that reminds me of a spider?
I also have a really strong aversion to most beans (I think it's an autism texture thing but idk for sure, as there are a decent variety of beans that can have pretty different textures that I'm all averse to), but that's solved in the same way as the ick factor with eating insects -- by making the processed output not resemble beans. Afaik most existing veggie burgers made with beans already do this.
–Enby-thagoras
Yeah I’m not eating bugs until I have to.
People offer me bugs occasionally and thats what I say to them. I’m sure its fine, healthy, nutritious, the karetin will only fuck with my stomach a little at first, but nah. I figure the day will come when me and my herp babies have to share meals, until then thats a nope from me.
Agreed! I'm not sure what those investors were thinking when they poured money into this effort. Ultimately, growing plants to feed to crickets is less efficient than just eating the plants, and -- as you note -- can create a larger amount of polarization in consumers used to a western diet. Given that there's only a fixed amount of government funding floating around for initiatives like this, I'd've expected cricket farming to be deprioritized pretty severely compared to other efforts (e.g. Canadian TVP factories, and whatnot).
I recall a CBC video covering an attempt at producing soy protein domestically, and that seems like a much more sound investment!
The theory behind promoting insect protein is that it's suitable for mass production with minimal inputs in places where conventional agriculture can't produce enough - urban landscapes, or marginal water and fertile soil availability.
You can farm bugs on food waste and plant matter that's unsuitable for human or animal consumption, and hot, dry climates are favorable for lowering costs. The CO2 footprint is probably close to mechanized soybean farming.
Of course, siting insect protein production in a place that requires high energy input for heating and light, where there are many protein alternatives more palatable to the local market, labor costs are high, and there's no local knowledge, is a high-risk strategy and someone should have foreseen that.
Honestly Im not sure that it's a 'yuck factor'.
Yeah, that's insanely expensive! For further comparison, that 454g bag of cricket powder is the same price I pay for a 2kg bag of decent quality whey protein powder. And whey has the advantage of being highly water soluble so it's an incredibly versatile ingredient... Whereas I'm pretty sure cricket powder is mostly not water soluble so about the only thing it's good for is use as a baking ingredient.
Yep exactly what I was going to say, make it cheaper than the alternatives and people will eat it, simple.
You're not going to shift the masses with the environmental factor alone.
If it's viable and actually solving something is another question.
The headline and most of the article kinda hide the real issue, which only gets one paragraph of coverage:
It wasn't that people weren't buying their cricket products - they weren't selling anything at all.
Unlike everyone else here, I was actually pretty excited to see this happening. I hoped it would bring down the price of cricket flour. But as far as I could tell, this facility never produced anything that was available for the consumer market. I don't know if they sold to other companies and it was distributed under a different name, but I tried to find products from this facility while it was open, and couldn't. So it didn't really matter whether it was too expensive - they weren't selling anything anyway.
And yeah, beans are a great source for protein. But chickpea flour makes me really gassy. Another alternative isn't a bad thing, as long as it can reach a reasonable price point.
Just in case you haven’t heard of this, the most common reason why people get gassy with beans of any type is simply because they are not well adapted to eating fiber. There are other reasons why beans can make you gassy, but it’s always good to check your fiber intake. There are a lot of tiny things where having good fiber intake improves your health, largely because of your gut microbiome.
What would you use cricket flour for? Are you celiac and trying to replace regular flour? How does it taste? Do you hand out cricket cookies on halloween?
No, I'm not celiac. In the bread I made, it didn't entirely replace the flour, it was added into the flour mixture, so it wouldn't be safe for celiacs. It tastes mildly nutty and a little earthy. Somewhat similar to whole wheat flour, maybe with a bit stronger flavour. The texture (in bread) was closer to how rye flour acts, because crickets don't have any gluten. My recipe was just a normal sourdough loaf, but using about 20% cricket flour and 80% white flour. I don't think you could do a 100% cricket flour loaf that didn't just turn into a brick, but if it were a lot cheaper, I'd give it a try. I'd definitely make more cricket/wheat bread if cricket flour were cheaper, but until then, I think it was mostly just a novelty.
I mostly just enjoy experimenting with different flours, and also like the idea of replacing some of my animal protein intake with something other than beans. Beans are fine, but I do really enjoy making and eating bread, so if bread can cover two macronutrients, all the better!
If a recipe asks for whole wheat flour, it might be a suitable replacement (as long as you account for the lack of gluten). It might work in a more savoury cookie, or maybe a spiced cookie where the spices are really strong, but I feel like if it was just replacing white flour in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, it might dominate the flavour profile.
Ok this makes more sense now. I looked it up to get a visual reference and ya, I could see it being dense. Maybe mixed with some other non wheat flours it might be ok.
My mother in law is gluten intolerant and I might get her some cricket flour for a bit of a laugh regardless of how practical or impractical it might be.
Really, what it reveals is that the business didn't prove that there was a market at the price they could provide, nor that they could make their system work at the scale they thought they could, but were able to convince people with money that they had the answers to a novel problem. If this wasn't cricket related, there would be no story here.
Back during the height of the cricket craze in 2013, I was doing initial review of financing proposals for small farming enterprises, and had a couple of different organizations ask for money to do smaller scale cricket farming enclosures for large scale farming. Every one of them was more thought out than "stick them in plastic bins." I don't know what techniques have developed in the last decade, but it does sound like Aspire Food Group wasn't using them. Pity.
I'm broadly enthusiastic about novel food sources, and think that crickets have a place in the array of things people would benefit from being open to eating. Personally, as someone with a mild shellfish intolerance (itchy mouth and digestional upset), I found that crickets triggered the same reactions. At least from my perspective, that makes them a poor candidate as a protein meal inclusion in other dishes, which is the commonly proposed way of hiding the fact that there's bugs in the food.
Somewhat disappointing but I get it. I’m not going to pay premium prices like that to eat crickets. I’m not really sure where crickets fit in my dietary plan, or if they even do unless it’s a very odd scenario — maybe in a first wave settler Mars colony where it somehow is the most efficient form of generating protein from extremely limited resources?
You could say that about Earth. Crickets are a good source of protein, especially in a world where cattle farming should become a little scarcer than it currently is.
In my eyes it shouldn't supplant anything, just as an addition to. There's no reason to let a good source of food go unused.
I've had some fried crickets in Vietnam. They taste a little like nuts.
They are also great when baked into things. My family uses them in place of nuts in things like bread and brownies. They pretty much just taste like almonds to me.
I’d eat this if they packaged it kind of like tofu for example. Or sausage-style: crickets hot dog.