LAUSR

On a clear August morning in southeastern Pennsylvania, more than a dozen adults and children stood in a park pavilion, listening to mealworms sizzling in a hot pan. They were learning about entomophagy—the human consumption of insects—from Lisa Sanchez, a naturalist with the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation, who has taught the practice for 25 years. Suddenly, one mealworm sputtered out of the pan. Six-year-old Adaline Welk—without prompting—popped it into her mouth. The crowd cheered for the newly minted entomophagist. “It’s not that bad!” she exclaimed. “It kind of tastes like kettle corn!” Sanchez encourages people to eat insects, in part, to lighten environmental footprints. Farmed insects produce far less greenhouse gas and require much less land and water than conventional livestock (1). Insects also generate more biomass with less input. Crickets, for example, are 12 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into edible weight (1). Already, two billion people eat insects—primarily in parts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia (2). Indeed, the practice dates back millennia (2). “I always thought, even back in the 90s, someday, maybe, [Americans] will do this,” Sanchez says. In principle, millions more people eating proteinand nutrient-rich insects could have a real impact on CO2 emissions. The coming years may prove Sanchez right. The edible insect industry is ramping up—one report predicts the market will reach $9.6 billion by 2030 (3). Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon.com and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores. Recent years have seen numerous Chefs and others are experimenting with a wide variety of insect ingredients in hopes of convincing curious but wary consumers. Image credit: Brooklyn Bugs.