My wife has 34 cookbooks on a shelf in our kitchen. That may not be enough, because she doesn't have one on edible insects, like David George Gordon's Eat a Bug Cookbook. Yuck! Why should she?
Well, according to what I've read, eating insects is becoming increasingly popular all over the world. It seems that insects are full of protein, but much lower in fat, calories, and cholesterol. Moreover, cultivation of insects takes little space, feed, or water, and produces no methane. Compare that to raising cattle which requires lots of space and enormous quantities of feed and water. Besides, bovine flatulence, according to some (although I don't know how you measure it), produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars on the road.
So get ready for the future: bread made from crickets instead of whole wheat flour; a diet of locusts, grasshoppers and mantises; plates of barbecued larvae and grilled tarantulas already favored in several Asian and South American countries.
Exotic foods are already here. Gene Rurka, a chef from New Jersey, offers a menu of teriyaki cockroaches, baked worms, banana canapés topped with maggot pupae, and baked scorpion atop a slice of cucumber topped with herbed cream cheese.
Let's face it. Exploding populations around the world someday will not be able to get their protein from steaks and hamburgers. Maybe Michelle Obama is right. It's time for us to turn to healthier foods. Bugs, anyone?
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