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Bring science home (ID: steamforkids)
Author | Shen Mengxi
Everyone who loves to watch wilderness survival programs may be impressed by Bei Ye and "Hungry De " and the scene of rotten wood directly finding insects and eating them raw.
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However, humans have a very long history of eating insects. When scientists were archaeologically Asiana , they discovered that these organisms from millions of years ago had already learned to eat termites, just like chimpanzees today.
In the Spanish Altamira cave paintings about 30,000 years ago, it also depicts ancient humans looking for edible insects and wild beehives.
Our ancestors may be like the orangutans today, and they are always here to visit insects. Image source/wikipedia
Even in modern times, the habit of eating insects is still popular all over the world. However, most areas will fry insects and then fry them before eating them. For example, every summer, everyone can eat fried silkworm pupa, roasted silkworm pupa , or roasted grasshoppers in barbecue restaurants. There are also various fried insects sold on Taobao all year round, from green beetles to barley worms , everything is available.
Insect food from all over the world Image source/wikipedia
According to statistics, more than 3,000 ethnic groups around the world have the habit of eating insects, and there are nearly 2,000 insects consumed, including 235 species of butterflies, 344 species of beetles, , 313 species of ant , bees and wasps , 239 species of grasshoppers, crickets and insects, 39 species of termites, 29 species of dragonflies and cicadas, etc. And more than 2 billion people eat insects every day.
Burkina Faso people who eat insects. Image source/wikipedia
Of course, everyone eats insects not for fun. Although there is not sufficient research on insect nutrition at present, existing research shows that insect nutrition is actually relatively balanced in all aspects, no less than meat.
For example, every 100g mealworm , silkworm , etc. contains more than 20g of protein , which is higher than most meats. The meat can compare with horse meat, beef tenderloin , chicken breast, etc.
In addition, compared to meat, insects can also provide vitamins and rich dietary fiber. Among them, some insects, such as crickets, contain mineral elements such as iron and calcium, which are generally richer than meat.
Crickets are a food whose nutritional value is not inferior to beef. Image source/wikipedia
Recently, with the intensification of global climate warming , more and more scientists have turned their attention to insects, believing that insects are a food source of potential alternative (or partially substituted) meat. The reason is simple. The current livestock farming industry puts great pressure on the environment. 80% of the world's agricultural land actually serves livestock farming, but they only provide 20% of the calories we need.
Moreover, large livestock will also emit a large amount of greenhouse gas , including methane , carbon dioxide , which are also an extremely important part of global climate warming.
In addition, there are 800 million people around the world who are hungry and cannot get enough protein supply at all. Compared with meat, insects undoubtedly have a high cost-effectiveness.
Anyone who has raised a crawling pet knows that raising a box of barley insects or crickets is a worry-free thing. It only takes a few vegetable leaves to reproduce and thrive in the feeding box (crickets are a little harder, but they can be raised even after handling).
Cricket farming is very simple, you only need an egg holder. Image source/wikipedia
. This is true in reality. Insects are easy to breed on a large scale, and the harmful gas emissions are less, and the "meat and material ratio" is also higher.
Some scientists have specially studied the daily harmful gas emissions of several organisms such as fire-lacquered sun beetles, mealworms, Dubia cockroaches , crickets, locusts, pigs, beef cattle, etc. After finding that, in general, the harmful gas emissions of insects are lower than those of livestock (taking carbon dioxide as an example. Since insects are warming animals, they do not need to consume extra energy to maintain body temperature. Therefore, in general, the carbon emissions per kilogram of body weight are lower, and the emissions of other polluted gases vary according to the insect species, among which the ammonia emissions of insects in this study are smaller than those of livestock).
From top to bottom are fire-lacquered sun beetles, mealworms, Dubia cockroaches, crickets, locusts, pigs, and beef cattle. Picture source/references [7]
As people turn their attention to edible insects, many companies are now beginning to get involved in insect breeding and food-based businesses.
After raising insects on a large scale, they will make them into freeze-dried , protein powder , insect chocolate bars, insect energy bars and other foods for sale. It is estimated that there is now a market of about $1 billion.
Cricket powder oatmeal Image source/wikipedia
Cricket chocolate Image source/wikipedia
However, the promotion of insect consumption industry is still lukewarm. On the one hand, it is historical factors. For example, Westerners eat less insects, which may be because Europe is colder and is not the home of many edible insects. On the other hand, it may be psychological effects. Many people will find insects disgusting, unsafe, and naturally they are not delicious.
Fried beetles have poor performance, but they taste very delicious. Really, I have eaten it! Image source/wikipedia
To solve people's disgust for insects, some scientists have begun to study how to cook insects, making them more acceptable to people. The research object is an insect called mealworm, commonly known as mealworm . People who keep crawling pets are familiar with it. As long as there is a feeding box and enough bran, they can reproduce from generation to generation. Some companies abroad will make them into protein powder for sale.
Because it is indeed nutritious, a magical post appeared on Douban specifically discussing whether mealworms can be used as the main source of meat. The conclusion is that as long as you overcome the psychological shadow, it is actually quite delicious, with the flavor of almonds.
Screenshot of posts discussing the taste of mealworms on Douban Image source/Douban screenshot
But after all, it seems that psychological and physiological discomfort is easy, so scientists decided to process it into powder by steaming, roasting, frying, etc., study its fragrance and its chemical composition of fragrance molecules, and prepare for future edible research.
Conclusion is that raw mealworms have a strong wet earthy smell, shrimp fishy smell and sweet corn aroma, steamed mealworms have a strong sweet corn aroma, and the other two flavors are lightened accordingly, and grilled and fried mealworms have a strong grilled shrimp flavor. And if sugar is added to cooked mealworms, they will smell like meat.
The sources of these flavors are similar to the chemical components of the corresponding flavors in other foods. For example, in baked and fried mealworms, their fragrance source is pyrazine produced by Maillard reaction , etc. The fragrance we smell in toast, french fries, barbecue and other foods is related to this.
To be honest, some restaurants in China have long had the dish of fried mealworms. Image source/wikipedia
Although these studies look funny, the insect breeding and insect food industries are likely to rise in the future.After all, 500 years ago, Spaniards also thought tomatoes were poisonous, and 200 years ago, Americans thought lobsters were junk food. Now look at how popular they are?
So is it possible that in the future, we will buy cumin-grilled shrimp-flavored dried crickets, or tomato-flavored dried worms like buying potato chips?
Reference
[1]Seo H, Kim HR, Cho IH. Aroma Characteristics of Raw and Cooked Tenebrio motor Larvae (Mealworms). Food Sci Anim Resour. 2020 Jul;40(4):649-658.
[2] Herrero M, Henderson B, Havlík P, et al. Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector[J]. Nature Climate Change, 2016, 6(5): 452-461.
[3] https://www.science.org/content/article/fight-global-warming-eat-bugs
[4] Orkusz A. Edible Insects versus Meat-Nutritional Comparison: Knowledge of Their Composition Is the Key to Good Health. Nutrients. 2021 Apr 6;13(4):1207.
[5] Van Huis A. Edible insects contributing to food security?[J]. Agriculture Food Security, 2015, 4(1): 1-9.
[6] Van Huis A, Dicke M, van Loon J J A. Insects to feed the world[J]. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 2015, 1(1): 3-5.
[7] Oonincx D G A B, Van Itterbeeck J, Heetkamp M J W, et al. An exploration on greenhouse gas and ammonia production by insect species suitable for animal or human consumption[J]. PloS one, 2010, 5(12): e14445.
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insects_as_food
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy_in_humans
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