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why not use insects for food? [Oddly necroed thread]

Onceler

Onceler

Golden Member
In pestilience ravaged countries in Africa where the populace is starving why not rig up a huge bug zapper that has an intense light source(at night of course) and zap the bugs with a huge grids surrounding the light and have them fall into a grinder that will make them into a protein rich pulp?
 
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The Boston Dangler said:
that is disgusting.
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I haven't eaten many insects myself, but the ones I have tried were actually pretty tasty. The taboo against eating bugs is very much a western cultural thing and is not backed by any rational argument. Bugs are tasty, nutritious and an excellent source of protein. We should be eating more of them.

Having said that, the thought still weirds me out. It's difficult to remove emotion from something you have been conditioned to be repulsed by your whole life.
 
GodlessAstronomer said:
I haven't eaten many insects myself, but the ones I have tried were actually pretty tasty. The taboo against eating bugs is very much a western cultural thing and is not backed by any rational argument. Bugs are tasty, nutritious and an excellent source of protein. We should be eating more of them.

Having said that, the thought still weirds me out. It's difficult to remove emotion from something you have been conditioned to be repulsed by your whole life.
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Europeans hate bugs too.
 
better yet, why not breed those lizards that can regrow their tails and just eat lizard tails!?!

YEAH I JUST SOLVED WORLD HUNGER!! (you're welcome)
 
I don't think there are many bugs in the areas of Africa where starvation is the worst.
Its a desert. Bugs need to eat too. If there isn't much vegetation for the bugs to eat, there aren't many bugs.
 
Aren't most insects guts rather acidic? That makes them somewhat incompatible as a staple diet for human digestive systems.
 
I have read somewhere that pound for pound, the world population of ants outweigh the total weight of the human race.

Looks like world hunger is solved once again.
 
Last week's The New Yorker magazine had a great article on eating bugs, link.

The main problems pointed out in the article are the disgust factor, the expense of preparing insects without exoskeletins/legs ($100/lb is common), pesticide use (the insects might not be safe to eat), and the fact that insect protein is more of a gelatinous blob than a steak.

The advantages are obvious: many cultures DO eat insects, it is better to eat them than poison them, there are plenty of insects, insects are good nutrition, and "insect husbandry is humane: bugs like teeming, and thrive in filthy, crowded conditions." unlike most farm animals we raise.

For me, I'll stick with eating the insects I accidently ingest and keep it at that.
 
As for Africa, as a continent it has plenty of green space which is teeming with great farmland. Their hunger is ONLY a result of politics (wars, lack of trade, government taking farmland/profits so why bother planting, etc).
 
It seems that a lot of people use the typical US lifestyle as a benchmark for how everyone in the world should live. If you don't buy from McDonalds and watch reality TV, you're in crushing poverty even though you live in the middle of nowhere in Africa. You as a hard working African was happy in your little corner of the world but these global bleeding hearts come up and tell you about the greener grass and how your shit sucks and isn't fit for a human.
 
jjsole said:
I'll stick to microbials.
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This. There is plenty of research on feeding the population lower down the food chain. It's supposed to be much more efficient, but it isn't practical yet. One day maybe we will have to do it. Until then, I will enjoy steak with a delicious soylent green side.
 
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