The environmental and economic arguments are
also persuasive. Any form of farming requires energy, which creates greenhouse gases, but the disadvantages of farming insects compared with livestock are fairly minor: much less land and water are needed, emissions are lower, and it’s even possible to rear some insects on organic side streams like manure. As Oonincx says: “Most insects are simply more
efficient. Insects are cold-blooded – ants do not waste energy keeping their bodies at a certain temperature, therefore can use the feed more efficiently. When we compare cricket or locust production to conventional livestock, there are lower inputs and therefore higher efficiency.” In short, insect farming requires less energy, creates
less pollution, offers high-value nutrition and costs less to mass-produce. What stands in the way of mass adoption is of course cultural perception – but this is slowly changing. In the US, insect farms like Enterra Feed and Beta Hatch have already attracted investment for their animal feed businesses, which process insects like black soldier flies and mealworms into food for fish and poultry. McDonalds is also looking at using insects for chicken feed to cut its dependency on soy protein. Western companies are also developing insects for
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direct human consumption, like Bitty Foods, which sells ready-made cricket-flour chocolate chip cookies, Next Millennium Farms, which sells seasoned and roasted crickets and mealworms as snacks, and Aspire Food Group, which farms palm weevil larvae and crickets for products like protein bars, and says they are “actively working to normalise consumption of insects in the Western world.” In Asia, this cultural barrier is lower thanks to a shared
history of entomophagy (the human consumption of insects) that carries into the present day. Across the region, Australia, China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam all currently farm insects for commercial consumption. One such outfit is Asia Insect Farm Solutions (AIFS), an eco-industrial initiative based in Kuala Lumpur. The group has focused its efforts on farming crickets for cricket powder that can be used to make bread, pastries, pastas or added to shakes and smoothies.
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE:
Scallops and crispy bamboo caterpillars from Backyard Bangkok; ant toppings at Noma; and Bugsolutely’s cricket pasta
Co-founder Raavee Shanker says the market for edible
insects is still in its early stages, but that growth is afoot. “Governments and big corporations have recognised the potential and are now beginning to commit time and resources into firming up the regulations and developing the edible insect market.” According to emerging trends research firm Arcluster, it’s an industry forecast to be worth more than US$1.5 billion by 2021. “In Europe, new legislation is in place to allow
producers of edible insects to have their products authorised under the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA),” says Shanker. “Once this is done, retailers can sell insect-based foods to consumers in the EU market. Likewise, in Singapore, a call for public opinion was released to assess the feasibility of insect-based food products to be sold in supermarkets. These are signs that the market is opening up on a global scale.” It is, and in Asia especially. Based in Shanghai, Bits
x Bites is China’s first food technology venture capital firm, investing in start-ups that tackle challenges in the food system. One of its eight companies is Thailand- based Bugsolutely, which produces protein-rich
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