Nutrisi dan Teknologi Pangan Universitas Surya

Should we Eat Bugs ?

      For centuries people have been eating bugs as a food source, like perhaps in the 1800, 1900, and even until now. Everything from beetles, caterpillars, locusts, grasshoppers, termites, and dragonflies. This practice even has a name, called entomophagy. They full fill the role as stable food source and also as delicacy.
      In ancient Greece cicadas were considered luxury snacks, and even the roman's found that the beetle larvae to be scrumptious. Why have we lost our taste for bugs ?. The reason for our rejection is historical, and the story probably begins around the 10.000 BC in the fertile crescent. It was a place in the middle east which was the birth place of agriculture. Back then as our ancestors learned how to farm crops and domesticate animals there,  attitudes changed rippling outwards europe and the rest of the western world. As farming took off, people might have thought bugs as pests that destroyed their crops, while populations grew and the west became urbanized weakening the connection between our freighting past.
      People simply forgot their bug rich history, as today for people not custom to entomophagy, bugs are just an irritant and disgusted by the prospect of cooking insects.Almost 2.000 insects species are turned into food forming a big part of everyday diets for 2 billion people in the world. Bugs can be eaten whole to make up a meal, or pound into flour and paste to add into food. But It's not all about taste, they're also healthy. In fact scientists say entomophagy could be a cost affected solution for developing countries that are food insecure.
      Insects can contain up to 80% protein, the body's vital building blocks and are also high in energy rich fat, fiber, and micro nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Did you know that most edible insects contain the same amount or even more mineral iron than beef ? , making them a huge resource when you consider that iron deficiency is currently the most common nutritional problem in the world. The meal worm is another nutritious example, this yellow beetle larvae native to America is easy to farm.
They have a high vitamin content, loads of healthy minerals, and contain up to 50% protein.
      Farming insects for food also has less environmental impact than livestock farms do, because insects produce far less greenhouse gas, uses up less space, water, and food. So, you could see economically bugs production could up lift people and develop countries. Insect farms can be small scale, highly productive and relatively inexpensive to keep. Insects can also be turned into more sustainable food for live stocks,and can be reared on organic waste, like vegetable peelings.

                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                               Source :   ed.ted.com