Entomophagy

It is clear that the Western world is still far away from accepting entomophagy as a daily eating practice, however, the many medical purposes that insects pertain is becoming a topic that is more open to discussion (DeFoliart, 1999, 45). It is interesting to see how the western world is known to consume non-nutritional food items, such as fast foods, however, they are so resistant of entomophagy; a source of food that has many medical benefits. Many regions in India have adapted to entomophagy, and have proved its benefits to medicinal practices. Refocusing on the idea of living in the Age of Bacteria, it is clear that becoming immune to the earth’s natural products are an important part of boosting one’s immune system. Entomophagy is a cultural phenomenon in foreign cultures, and is a tradition that lives on to harness the food of their ancestor’s. All in all, entomophagy is a form of food in modern cultures that contains non-dietary benefits to health. In anthropological studies, it is important to understand a holistic perspective on findings. This is why understanding entomophagy, as a way for foreign countries to harness tradition and culture is an important benefit of its eating practice. Insects are a form of food for many foreign cultures today, and continue produce many benefits that extend further than filling…

disappear in the close future, Goodyear notes. When this happens, it will be a worldwide problem and will most certainly create conflicts among countries. “World War Three will be over control of water and food”. (39) Because of this constant threat of running out of aliments, why not replace meat with, well, meat? “The insects may be an answer”. (39) The purpose of Goodyear’s article is to convince the masses that “entomophagy” is the best way of avoiding such a crisis. Dana Goodyear…

According to the United Nations, insects are one of the best proposed solutions thus far for addressing world hunger issues (Parotte 2016). They store for much longer, depending on how they are prepared, and are far less expensive to transport. There are more than 1,900 edible insects discovered thus far, with enormous potential for ending food insecurity in many parts of the world. The biggest challenge of course, is overcoming the mental barrier that many cultures have against entomophagy.…

Dana Goodyear discusses entomophagy. The article indicates that eating insects are ecological and economical as serve as a protein source. According to Goodyear, most insects are cold blooded, and are more efficient at converting feed to meat as are cattle. In contract, cattle waste energy keeping themselves warm. For example, grasshoppers have three times as much protein and have many nutrients such as iron and zinc. I think Goodyear is advocating for eating insects as part of our human diet…

Research Experience For my research paper about entomophagy, I found it interesting how there were many people on the internet asking about the same question as I was, which is why don’t people in western cultures normally eat bugs? As one author writes, “Why don’t we eat bugs?”. Reading through the online articles, most of the authors agreed that bugs could potentially be beneficial to our economy, our body (nutritional wise), and the environment. However, I did come across a source that…

Western ancestry no longer practice entomophagy, the practice of consuming insects (Van Huis et al., 2013, p. 35). This agricultural custom and the absence of entomophagy then continued to Europe and spread to urban areas. Ever since, Westerners and people from urban areas have lack of association with insects in their diet. Nevertheless, the continuation of entomophagy can still be seen in some parts of the world. Van Huis et al. (2013) assert that there are currently two billion entomophagous…

preservation are very important to ward off dangerous diseases and viruses that may caused by them. For an industrial mass production of insects, automation technologies as well as safety and hygienic procedures have to be developed to ensure an economic production process of safe food and feed products derived from insects. Moreover, to increase the purchase and consumption of insects, it has to be more attractive and competitive with regard to meat. Therefore, it is necessary to promote…