Matt Leppek
Columnist
Why are bugs only eaten in America as a childhood or alcohol related dare? One reason is that shows, such as “Fear Factor,” portray bugs in a negative light. Never once have I watched an episode and thought to myself, “Hey, that looks appetizing!” Social media is very influential on Americans, so it is easy for us to overlook the nutritional benefits of chowing down on creepy crawlies.
Some insects, such as caterpillars, have as much protein per 100 grams as lean beef or fish. But the real difference lies in nutritional value. A cricket contains 75mg of calcium, 9.5mg of iron, and 13g of protein per 100g. Keep in mind beef contains a tenth of the amount of iron as crickets, and no calcium, not to mention beef has twice the calories and four times the fat. Insects are also much more efficient on the environment to farm than animals.
According to Insectsarefood.com, “Insects generally contain more protein and are lower in fat than traditional meats. In addition they have about 20 times higher food conversion efficiency than traditional meats. In other words they have a better feed-to-meat ratio than beef, pork, lamb or chicken.”
Cows, pigs, and other mammals are endothermic, meaning they use energy to heat themselves. Insects, on the other hand, are exothermic, and absorb heat from their surroundings. This means less energy use, and less greenhouse gas. The rate at which insects reproduce is staggering in comparison to cattle. Termite queens lay over 250,000 eggs in their lifetime of 15-20 years. On average, a cow can give birth 8-12 times over a 15-year period. Combine this with the fact that only about half of a mature cow is edible, whereas the whole termite is edible, and one can see which is the smarter food.
The hardest part about being a healthy vegetarian is finding a steady source of protein. Vegetarians, such as Siena Heights University Philosophy Professor Jeff Engelhardt, do not eat meat because of the conditions animals are farmed in.
Engelhardt states, “In order to eat a hamburger, you must kill a cow. To feed America hamburgers, you need to kill millions of cows; and these cows suffer.”
Mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians have a neurophysiology similar to humans- they feel pain. When a young person touches a hot surface and gets burnt, pain is associated with this experience. That person will then remember that it hurt, stay away from it in the future, and later pass this information to their children. The animals listed above have these same nervous systems for survival. If a predator attacks them, they will learn, by the pain they feel, to avoid that species. The method at which livestock is slaughtered for commercial consumption says a lot about our society. Some believe if we, as humans, do not feel pain, it does not exist; this is completely false. Even if animals were to be slaughtered in a humane way, the conditions most farm animals are raised in is repulsive itself.
Insects and arachnids have less developed nervous structures than other animals. Rather than having a centralized brain that processes pain, they have ganglia, which are clusters of nerves. Bugs are also invertebrate, meaning they have no spine, which transports the sensations to the brain. To illustrate the difference between insects and other animals, notice when a bug loses a leg, they carry on without a limp. If a cockroach loses its head, it will carry on its daily activities until it dies of starvation. They are pre-programmed organisms, and don’t experience physical and emotional pain like animals.
For Engelhardt, the fact that insects don’t suffer the same way as other animals catches his attention, and opens his eyes to trying them. Others don’t eat meat because they think animals are too cute. Whatever the reason, insects are the solution. I don’t see crickets and beetles to be cute and cuddly, and they don’t feel pain like I do, so I would have no remorse eating it. According to James Holloway with gizmag.com, 2 billion people around the globe, mainly in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, don’t find eating bugs to be a problem either.
America centers itself around pizza, hamburgers, and hotdogs. We are very picky when it comes to food, and scrunch our noses at the thought of eating something we squish with our shoe. The hardest part about making bugs a food source is opening the eyes of the general public to it. I’m sure in the next couple decades these critters will wiggle their way into our diet. Wouldn’t it be wild to pull into a fast-food restaurant and order a bucket of fried beetles?