Farm 432

[warble]

I talked to my kids about eating insects the other day with the expected results in the form of 'ew' and such. We've spent so much time in modern society associating insects with disease it's hard to dissassociate. For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs.

This is a great idea if you look at the math, but almost impossible to get over the emotional response. Maybe processing the grubs/flies into something less recognizable would help, but at some point you read the ingredients and you're back at square one.

Disgust seems to be one of the more irrational and risk averse emotions, which makes sense - guessing something is disgusting when it's not has little risk, but guessing something is not disgusting when it really is dangerous carries great risk.

Interesting problem especially when recoginzing what damage our current meat production is causing, plus the base inefficiencies of it.

[headShrinker]

Lobsters are closely related to Spiders... yet are considered a delicacy. I even think to my self as I eat lobster, "spider, spider, spider" yet I never get grossed out at eating it. On the other hand I can barely hold a spider much less eat one...

[Recoil42]

>For some reason shrimp which are essentially bugs are no problem because (I think) they come from the ocean, so there's an obvious mental line that can dissassociate them from other bugs.

Generally, we eat the innards, not the exoskeleton.

[amirmc]

> "Maybe processing the grubs/flies into something less recognizable would help, but at some point you read the ingredients and you're back at square one."

How many of the ingredients do you currently understand? Just use the latin name of the insect and no-one would notice. Given the yield, I can imagine that we'll be eating a lot of insects in the future and in many parts of the world larvae/insects are not a problem at all.

[lbotos]

These guys are working on cricket bars as a protein source:

https://www.exoprotein.com/

(No affiliation, they were a few desks over at a coworking space)

[beloch]

For the record, a soldier fly is about as closely related to a shrimp as you are to a Cod. Same phylum, different class.

[Linell]

These are my thoughts exactly. While I love the idea and think it may be great for some things, I just don't see many people making the switch to eating bugs anytime soon.

[minusSeven]

I disagree about processing them into something less recognizable would prevent people from having them. No one actually cares reading about contents products especially if you can have in something like medicine.

[mikeash]

Lobsters too. Can you imagine steaming and eating a two-pound cockroach? But that's basically what a lobster is.

I predict that techniques will be found to make good plant-based meat substitutes or other artificial meat before anyone figures out how to make us happy with eating insects.

[barrkel]

I have great difficulty eating shrimp and have zero desire to eat lobster or crab, precisely because of the insect-like association.

[ch]

At first I was totally grossed out by the though of the entire process. It's tough to see how the sausage is made, tougher still with the cultural aversion to eating bugs. Then I watched the video where they are frying up the bugs in the pan, and though "How can they be so thoughtless to use metal on a non-stick pan"! So perhaps I'm past my aversion to eating bugs! Maybe not.

[SwellJoe]

And, then eating out of the non-stick pan with a metal fork! Absolutely disgusting. I couldn't look away.

[Haegin]

I just went back to watch that video to judge them on their metal utensil usage. I'm still weirded out by eating bugs though.

[Aqwis]

If those are anodized non-stick pans, using metal utensils is perfectly fine.

[theophrastus]

The key to successfully introducing insects into the western diet is processing. Processing to remove the chitin exoskeleton (which can be saved and used for making non-edible objects), and processing to remove the product from the direct image of an insect. If you scatter some fried cockroaches over a salad you'll get a some brave souls who will say "eh, crunchy, but not bad"; if you process cockroaches to a 'meat patty' or sausage or 'protein bar' then the large majority would give it an honest try enough to become regular customers.

[petercooper]

I've realized this breaks a willful ignorance I have over animal-based food. Coming from afar, I can put aside the realities of meat eating and imagine chickens and cows dancing hand in hand in a lush green field enjoying their short lives.. (and yes, I can do this, otherwise I'd be a vegetarian.)

With Farm 432 in my kitchen, however, the idea of life multiplying to keep my belly full is right in my face. How sickeningly first world.. :-) I actually wondered if it was a project designed to evoke such reflection.

[dmritard96]

I have gone flexitarian for this reason. As someone concerned with global warming, I found it troubling to eat meet regularly. Couple that with industrial agriculture and that did it for me. If its at someones place I won't make a big deal, but I basically won't buy meat unless its particularly hard to get around. Even then its pretty much only fish and chicken...

[autarch]

This is so weird. Are people really so set on eating animal protein that they'd rather eat insects than just eat plants?

Yes, this is incredibly more efficient than eating most animal products, but so are plant-based foods, which already exist, taste pretty good, and most importantly, are not completely and utterly revolting.

[dsl]

People in developing countries don't have the luxury of access to the variety of different plants you need to make a vegetarian diet work.

[suvelx]

What about taste? While bugs are a great source of protein, we don't eat foods primarily based on nutrition, we eat food based on taste.

I know Huhu or Witchetty grubs taste similar to peanut butter. And while peanut butter is nice and all, I want me some rich (but sustainable) beefy taste.

[rndn]

https://edibug.wordpress.com/list-of-edible-insects/

There are a couple of bugs listed, I couldn't find anything about beefy tastes though. Perhaps, it can be achieved with artificial flavors?

[aidos]

I ate termites from a nest in Honduras. They were actually pretty good, I thought that tasted a lot like peanut butter. Though, they're pretty small and non-offensive, as far as eating bugs goes.

[ilitirit]

Mopane worms (which are caterpillars) taste like barbecued meat. Honestly, if you added Mopane meat to sausages I doubt many people would know the difference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonimbrasia_belina

[udev]

Reminds me of the movie Snowpiercer, where there is a scene with an industrial size device that creates protein bars from insects.

[tburns]

That's the first thing I thought of as well when I saw this, especially once I got down to this image:

http://static.squarespace.com/static/53d17b47e4b0d5933c1e4a4...

[fastball]

Specifically some type of cockroach, no?

[settsu]

Geez, spoiler aler... never mind...

[phil248]

For those in the Bay Area, I highly recommend checking out Don Bugito. They've done a great job of making insects palatable for the uninitiated. Everyone I've taken to their food stand at Off the Grid has ended up trying some bugs (despite insisting they would not). You can also buy them pre-packaged at the Ferry Building. http://www.donbugito.com/

[soperj]

Seems like a great source of protein for animals. Would be interesting way to feed chickens.

[justzisguyuknow]

Definitely makes me think of the scene from Snowpiercer (spoiler alert) when they discover the protein blocks they eat are made of cockroaches.

[weisser]

Austin, TX is at the cutting edge of the edible insect trend in the states. I had the pleasure of grabbing some mead and enjoying some snacks with a bunch of the companies down there.

Anyone doing anything with cricket-based foods in the US is likely supplied by World Ento (which recently merged with Aspire International). They're building a massive cricket farm in ATX to try to keep up with the demand.

[volker48]

Why not just let the animals pasture and eat grass instead of feeding them grain? Factory farms are the big problem.

[ilitirit]

One thing people often miss is that besides not looking very appetizing, some bugs don't really taste that great either. Well, it's more to do with the fact that they're just very bland or bitter. But, some animals are exactly the same. The reason that lamb, beef and chicken tastes "good" to us is because a: we've grown accustomed to the taste, and b: they've been farmed to be palatable (breeding, diets etc).

In Japan, some fish are given special diets to alter their flavour. I don't see why we can't do the same with insects and worms.

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/10/28/a-little-citrus-for-yo...

[kpmah]

If you're concerned about your CO2 footprint, one thing you can do without going as far as eating bugs is eliminating beef from your diet and eating only poultry. Minimal impact on your diet and about twice as efficient.

[habosa]

I am pretty into high-end foodstuffs and really anything that tastes good, so I am somewhat surprised that my inner self says "bring on the bugs!". I think it would be kinda cool to eat an entirely new source of protein and know that I'm being just a tiny bit more sustainable.

Plus once in a while I get some pang of guilt about factory farming. Not gonna happen with cockroaches; I'm pretty sure there is no possible world where I develop sympathy for an insect.

[stevenh]

The widespread irrational disgust shamelessly expressed here, without regard for how expressing that disgust out loud is enforcing the status quo and contributing to the prevention of this ever being accepted in the mainstream, is exactly how I imagine the pervasiveness of homophobia in past generations.

...Which I think is a good thing, because it means it can be eliminated through a cultural shift assisted by mass media.

[Methusalah]

Homophobia has not been eliminated and nearly everyone here expressing disgust has also stated that they realize their disgust is irrational.

[frozenport]

Is insect protein better or more nutritious then protein directly from a plant?

[d23]

Are we considering this more humane because the creatures are smaller? You're still trapping hundreds of living beings into a tiny container. Don't get me wrong -- I eat meat and consider it ultimately a natural part of life. I just don't understand why flies are somehow okay to trap and confine, but cows aren't.

[zirkonit]

Obviously more of an art project than anything else, but a brilliant direction to focus our thinking on. Insect protein really is a good direction to grow our meat consumption in, and if at first “toy” projects like this mostly provoke disgust, I hope in 25-50 years they will be in a very different position.

[Aqwis]

"Farm 432" would be a great title for a dystopian science fiction novel. I'm imagining a fictional future Soviet Union where the citizens are fed with insect products from collective farms simply named "Farm #".

[kowdermeister]

Maybe because of Fahrenheit 451?