There are many reasons why you should try insects as food.

Insect food stall in Bangkok, Thailand.

Insect food stall in Bangkok, Thailand - from left to right-Locusts, Bamboo worms, Moth worm, Crickets, water beetle-Wikipedia Commons-CC BY-SA 3.0 Source: Takoradee - Own work

Consuming insects have more benefits than you may think, either in terms of environment or health-wise!


Two billion of world population consume insects daily, but city dwellers are less likely to dine. According to Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson, a researchers who study Australian consumer attitudes toward insect-food based from Adelaide University, it is due to the 'ick' factor that turns people off.

However there are more and more entrepreneurial food enthusiasts would like to convince the world that they should include insects in their dishes.

Food start-up Bugsolutely, a Shanghai-based operator, Massimo Reverberi said, bugs are Super-food that westerners have forgotten.

" He said that they are not only environmentally friendly but also are very nutritious, because insects contain a lot of proteins, minerals, vitamins, fibres and Omega-3."

United Nations also agreed and added that they require less resources to farm compare to livestock, which Associate Professor Kerry Wilkinson hopes that Australians will consume more insects, "due to the facts that they need less feed, less water, less land space, plus there are plenty of good reasons why we should try."

Therefore, Massimo Reverberi has came up with an idea to turn insects into chip in China and hopefully to transform cricket into powder which then mix with pasta for Australia. Moreover, Mr. Reverberi said that people rarely noticed when they taste nutty pasta which is part of insects ingredient made from nutty insect flavor especially from mealworms and silkworms, although, crickets do not taste as good as those worms.

Bits and Bites program director, Eric Sun said that he does not want people to totally change their normal diets to insect food-based, but they should have an open mind and should try other available foods that the world has to offer.

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