Globally, over 2 Billion people currently eat insects around the world. From ants to scorpions, edible insects provide a ready and available source of protein and nutrition. In fact, a lot of protein and nutrition, and a food source that can be readily gathered if you known what you are looking for.
Although many people may not have fried tarantulas, roasted grasshoppers, or sauteed pupae on the menu there are many companies making a multitude of edible insect products. Products such as chips, crackers, chocolate, brownies, pasta, and more (you can check some of them out in our Cricket Flours Shop or even on Amazon too). However, for research purposes, finding proof that these same insects were eaten by our ancestors has not been as easy to find as an Amazon search.
However scientists and academics from Heriot Watt-University and Wayne State University (read more on their research by clicking here) found that long awaited evidence in Tanzania. In a region already known for utilizing foraged insects such as termites, the scientists came across an interesting substrate and material.
After initial testing of the “mud” and running tests on the dental samples of the individuals that resided their, researches found new evidence of what many individuals had previously assumed. Edible insects may have made up a significant portion of our ancestors diets, up to 50%, and research like this will continue to paint a picture of the lives of those that came before us.
Related Cricket Flours & Edible Insect Posts:
- Insects as Food - Should We Eat Bugs? Insects as Food In a recent video produced for TED-Ed by Emma Bryce called, "Should we eat bugs?" the topic of eating insects for food is main the focus. Historically, our ancestors have been eating insects as food for centuries. Eating insects as food was probably learned from other animals and then incorporated into our own diets. The practice of using insects as food became a staple in our diets as it provided a new…
- Why We Should Eat More Bugs Eating Insects is the Future In this video created by BuzzFeed titled, "Why We should Eat More Bugs," individuals are exposed to eating bugs for the first time. Around the world there are over a thousand different types of edible bugs ranging from scorpians, crickets, mealworms, and more. The act of eating insects is called entomophpagy and around 2 billion people around the world are eating insects as food. Eating insects can take the form…
- Roasted Crickets & Dried Crickets The news recently has covered a lot of great stories about edible insects, roasted crickets, and even cockroach milk! A lot of the world currently eats insects, but for many people living in the US and Western cultures, this is a new idea. Eating roasted crickets for added protein and as a snack is not something you commonly find on menus, but to many of our ancestors this wouldn't seem so strange. It is really…
- Entomophagy, what is that? What is Entomophagy? Entomophagy generally refers to the human consumption of insects or bugs as a food source. The definition of entomophagy is based on Greek roots of the words, entomon for "insects," and phagein for "to eat." The entomophagy definition generally refers to humans that eat insects for food, however other animals that eat insects are referred to as insectivores. While there are numerous traditional cultures that practiced entomophagy, eastern cultures remain the highest…