Jan 24, 2011 Insect Cuisine – Food of the Future?
Dutch student Walinka van Tol inspects the worm protruding from a half-eaten chocolate praline she’s holding, steels herself with a shrug, then pops it into her mouth.
“Tasty … kind of nutty!” the 20-year-old assures her companions clutching an array of creepy crawly pastries at a seminar, which forecast that larvae and locusts will invade Western menus as the price of steak and chops skyrocket.
Van Tol and about 200 other tasters were guinea pigs for a group of Dutch scientists doing groundbreaking research into insects replacing animal meat as a healthier, more environmentally friendly source of protein.
“There will come a day when a Big Mac costs 120 euros ($163) and a Bug Mac 12 euros, when more people will eat insects than other meat,” head researcher Arnold van Huis told a disbelieving audience at Wageningen University in the central Netherlands.
“The best way to start is to try it once,” the entomologist insisted. (link)