"For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt."
When Jehova sent the locusts to help Moses to free the Israelites from slavery, it was quite a blow for the Pharao. All of a sudden, his people was on the brink of starvation due to a potential famine caused by myriad grasshoppers. This whole story could have taken a turn if the Egyptians had only seen the locusts as a food source. Today, world hunger could be reduced, if not completely abolished, if insects entered the diet sheet on a daily basis.
With over 850 million people worldwide suffering from hunger, finding a quickly regenerating, cheap and healthy food source that is easy to cultivate is crucial. The biomass of all the insects on this planet exceeds the biomass of humans by the factor 28. This enormous capacity of resources goes currently unused. The average silkworm needs 28-30 days until it is ready to produce a cocoon, which is the state in which it is often eaten in some Asian countries. Assuming that silkworm and other edible insects were bred systematically, there would be an instant supply of fresh food. In contrast, a cow needs up to 5 years until it is ready for consumption. Therefore, using insects as food would not only be reasonable, but also very economical.
When taking a closer look at the nutritional value, insects do not only tend to be of equal value than conventional types of meat, but they even seem to outmatch at least some of them regarding the amount of energy they deliver and the amount of protein they contain. When comparing 100 grams of beef to the equal portion of caterpillar, the caterpillar delivers the human body with more energy, protein, iron, thiamine and riboflavin than the beef. Thus, caterpillars seem to be ideal for a main dish or, taking into account their size, as a snack alternative to the average peanuts.
Apart from the economical or nutritional viewpoints, insects are often seen as a delicacy in other culture areas. In Asia, they are being served either fried or grilled, broiled with sauce or roasted on a stick. The number of insect related recipes on the Internet is stunning. The only two plausible conclusions are that either all these people are insane and that they eat insects just to prove a point or to show off with a fancy new discussion topic or that they really find them tasty. If so, they might actually be worth trying.
There seems to be a trend in development which leads to a change in thinking and in general behaviour when it comes to "bugs". The concept of intellectual and cultural globalisation appears to aid with accepting and adapting new ideas, such as eating "creepy crawlies" and "vermin". The final responsibility rests with the people involved in an educational process. They decide whether their children will later see a grub and run or pick it up, put it in a basket and make diner for mom and dad.
