a minimal initial investment in a cricket colony could absolutely feed a family of four
I've tried to raise crickets to feed a pet bearded dragon. I followed all the guidelines, but generally could never even keep them alive let alone get them to reproduce. I don't think this is quite as easy as it's made to sound.
It's odd because you see crickets everywhere in the wild, they must be pretty hardy, but I utterly failed trying to "farm" them.
Crickets are one of the worst insects to breed. It's hard to keep a stable colony, they smell awful, make noise, and constantly jump out and escape.
I breed Guyana roaches to feed my pet tarantulas. They are hardy and easy to breed, plus they don't smell or make noise and they can't climb walls. They give live birth and don't infest homes. I keep them in a large storage bin with a screen lid filled with egg crates, and feed them fresh fruit and dry cat food once a week. I live in a small apartment and guests don't even know they're there unless I point them out.
As my wife pointed out to me, reading this over my shoulder, it was always used in the context of her refusing to eat something she didn't like, as in "In some parts of the world they eat bugs!"
That said, in San Francisco the grasshopper tacos were banned [1] even though people did like them and people back in Oxaca apparently suffer no ill effects from eating them.
So given that good marketing (grasshopper tacos) can overcome western sensitivities, it offers the possibility that farming bugs for human consumption can in fact be a worthwhile endeavor.
Maybe crickets and mealworms would be a good diet for prisoners but I'd personally rather eat rice and beans if I was on a limited income.
Maybe have these farms available for very poor countries?
I just don't see the desire to eat crickets and worms.
And forget about a social life or dating once they find out you raise and eat crickets and worms, doesn't matter how good you are at explaining the concept.
Apart from that, you're right about it having a big "yuck" factor for most people. At the moment it's going to be brave early adopters, finding out what's nice, and what's got too much exoskeleton. (Chitinous legs stuck in your teeth is off-putting.)
Cereal volume 3 has a nice article about the various types of bugs and where they're eaten. (http://readcereal.com/magazine/)
I might be about to raise and eat insects, but my child definitely will. (Consider that children often eat bugs from the garden, and it's only the reaction from horrified parents that stops them doing it!)
Good source of protein and fats, and often plentiful in the absence of agriculture. It's mostly a cultural aversion. Eating insects is/was common in hunter-gatherer cultures.
I looked into selling insects as food last year. There's definitely a market for it, but I'm not sure what would stop a well-established existing insect farm from getting into the business the moment it looks viable and crushing everyone as they're already equipped for huge amounts of production, shipping and handling.
There were some disappointed people when I ran my test and they tried to buy crickets or mealworms just to find out I didn't actually have any.
Ultimately I decided not to mess with it because I'm not very excited by eating insects myself. I've tried a few things (crickets and mealworms) and while they didn't taste bad, they didn't taste like much of anything... I foresaw the eating of many insects in order to make it succeed and it's pretty tough to get excited about :)
I live a mile from Hotlix and the kids & I often incorporate one of their bug products when we play card/board games ("loser eats a chocolate covered cricket").
If anyone wants to try something let me know. The store has blemished items cheap and I could mail some out this week.
Eating insects actually looks closer to the norm outside of McDonald's land, so farming insects should definitely be an option.
It's only taboo because people never tasted it. I ate ants [1] here in Brazil and it's delicious. In Vietnam, apparently, fried tarantulas is another delicacy - tastes like lobster. The article mentions crickets, but by the smell of it I don't think they make a good appetizer.
How do you convince a person like me who thinks it's gross to eat insects? Esp. Out of fear they (or the parasites they bring) might "become alive and crawl up to your brain or start a colony inside your bowel".
Peer pressure works. I had some chili dried grasshoppers in Mexico. My sister forced me to eat them. They weren't that great, but weren't bad, either. Sort of like eating sunflower seeds. I'll admit I don't know how one would psych themselves up to eat a plate of grubs on their own. Maybe drop some hallucinogens first?
Would it help if they were prepared in such a way as to make them unrecognisable? I know plenty of people who will happily eat mince, chops, etc., but who find it offputting if there are signs of where the meat came from, (e.g. a hog roast, fish/poultry with the heads still on).
[+] [-] ams6110|12 years ago|reply
I've tried to raise crickets to feed a pet bearded dragon. I followed all the guidelines, but generally could never even keep them alive let alone get them to reproduce. I don't think this is quite as easy as it's made to sound.
It's odd because you see crickets everywhere in the wild, they must be pretty hardy, but I utterly failed trying to "farm" them.
[+] [-] NullXorVoid|12 years ago|reply
I breed Guyana roaches to feed my pet tarantulas. They are hardy and easy to breed, plus they don't smell or make noise and they can't climb walls. They give live birth and don't infest homes. I keep them in a large storage bin with a screen lid filled with egg crates, and feed them fresh fruit and dry cat food once a week. I live in a small apartment and guests don't even know they're there unless I point them out.
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|12 years ago|reply
That said, in San Francisco the grasshopper tacos were banned [1] even though people did like them and people back in Oxaca apparently suffer no ill effects from eating them.
So given that good marketing (grasshopper tacos) can overcome western sensitivities, it offers the possibility that farming bugs for human consumption can in fact be a worthwhile endeavor.
[1] http://boingboing.net/2011/06/09/grasshopper-tacos-ba.html
[+] [-] dm2|12 years ago|reply
Maybe have these farms available for very poor countries?
I just don't see the desire to eat crickets and worms.
And forget about a social life or dating once they find out you raise and eat crickets and worms, doesn't matter how good you are at explaining the concept.
Am I missing something?
[+] [-] DanBC|12 years ago|reply
It's a normal food in many parts of the world.
Apart from that, you're right about it having a big "yuck" factor for most people. At the moment it's going to be brave early adopters, finding out what's nice, and what's got too much exoskeleton. (Chitinous legs stuck in your teeth is off-putting.)
Cereal volume 3 has a nice article about the various types of bugs and where they're eaten. (http://readcereal.com/magazine/)
I might be about to raise and eat insects, but my child definitely will. (Consider that children often eat bugs from the garden, and it's only the reaction from horrified parents that stops them doing it!)
[+] [-] ams6110|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hcarvalhoalves|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icey|12 years ago|reply
There were some disappointed people when I ran my test and they tried to buy crickets or mealworms just to find out I didn't actually have any.
Ultimately I decided not to mess with it because I'm not very excited by eating insects myself. I've tried a few things (crickets and mealworms) and while they didn't taste bad, they didn't taste like much of anything... I foresaw the eating of many insects in order to make it succeed and it's pretty tough to get excited about :)
[+] [-] marshray|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] callmeed|12 years ago|reply
If anyone wants to try something let me know. The store has blemished items cheap and I could mail some out this week.
[+] [-] GuiA|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hcarvalhoalves|12 years ago|reply
It's only taboo because people never tasted it. I ate ants [1] here in Brazil and it's delicious. In Vietnam, apparently, fried tarantulas is another delicacy - tastes like lobster. The article mentions crickets, but by the smell of it I don't think they make a good appetizer.
[1] http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/11/recipe-ica-fa...
[+] [-] wiradikusuma|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdouble|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ams6110|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Thrall|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thejteam|12 years ago|reply
Off to find some nice night-crawlers...