Insects: food of the future?

In our search to reduce our ecological footprint, we already stumbled upon a few solutions. Lore for example proposed to eat less meat and with something that is called hybrid meat, you don’t even have to become a vegetarian. Well, I found another alternative for meat: insects!

It’s clear that we have to reconsider our eating habits. Not only because the production of meat causes a lot of pollution, but also because the earth’s changing climate - with more extreme weather like floodings - raises the question how we can feed all its inhabitants. According to the Dutch website insecteneten.nl, that delivers edible insects, the consumption of these little creatures is the answer. There are around 1400 edible insects in the world and since they are one of the most fertile animals, the provision will stay large enough. Moreover, the processing of edible insects produces a lot less greenhouse gasses than the production of meat does.

Although it seems rather controversial to eat insects, it’s not that unusual. In 98 (!) countries outside of Europe, it’s a real delight. It concerns 80% of the total population. But in Europe, the idea of eating (consciously) insects is rather innovative. Some young Belgian entrepreneurs also saw this opportunity. InsectPlanet, an initiative that wants to enlarge the acceptation of insects for human consumption, was one of the six finalists of Start Academy 2011. This is a contest for students who want to put their business plan into action.

Sadly, you can't buy edible insects in Belgium yet, but if you’re curious, you can always order them on insecteneten.nl, or... search them yourself if you're more the adventurous type.

By Elien Lefevere