Description

This week, we discuss the exciting world of edible insects with Robert Nathan Allen (RNA) from Little Herds.

Little Herds is an educational non-profit based in Austin, Texas teaching and spreading awareness about edible insects as a resource efficient, economically viable, nutritious and delicious food for us to eat, and as feed for the animal products that we consume.

We discuss the enormous potential of edible insects: how incorporating them into Western diets and food systems could help us meet the current and future nutritional and environmental demands and needs of a growing world population.

In this episode, you'll hear all about:

• what edible insects are
• RNA's love story with bugs
• The historical and cultural significance of edible insects across societies and cultures
• Western taboos towards insects and how we can overcome them
• first impressions and how they taste as I try them live on air!
• the nutritional benefits of edible insects compared to other livestock
• the resource efficiency of edible insects (feed conversion ratio, land and water use)
• the ethical argument for eating insects
• insects as feed for the livestock we eat 
• criticisms and concerns about edible insects
• RNA's tips, tricks and suggestions about edible insects

Links:

• RNA's Little Herds Website
• The insects I ate from Jimini's Edible insects company
• UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2013 'Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security'
• UC Davis Study. Lundy & Parrella (2015) 'Crickets are not a Free Lunch: Protein Capture from Scalable Organic Side-Streams via High-Density Populations of Acheta domesticus'