“Hi there! Welcome to Food of the Future! What can I get you today? Our breakfast special is the beetle-protein breakfast smoothie with a bran-ant muffin. Lots of protein to start your day and they taste great! So, what will you have?” 

Hmmm, if you said, “Just coffee, thanks.” I’m totally with you on that one. But scientists think that insects munching may be the new food fad of the future! Are they mad? Nope, they’re just practical. Most insects are completely edible. They are chalked full of protein and low in fat. Not to mention that they are very, very abundant. And crunchy. Yup, there’s nothing like the crunch of a handful of cricket chips after all! Uggh! Grossed out yet? I know I am.

Welcome to the gourmet world of entomophagy (bug eating). It just may be in your future. The world population is skyrocketing into the stratosphere. We’re expected to hit a crowded population count of 9 billion by 2050. Right now we’re sitting at a spacious 6.6 billion.  And every one of those people has got to eat. Unfortunately, raising livestock takes up a lot of space, space that we may not have as the population grows, especially in certain parts of the world. And “microlivestock” (mini-livestock, such as bugs) may help prevent a lot of growling stomachs around the world.

Many other cultures around the world jumped on the insect snack wagon long ago. It seems that we may be the only ones grossed out by creepy-crawly food. Of course, we already eat crabs and lobsters, which look a lot like giant bugs, so maybe we are already on our way to entomophagy. Mmmmm, pass the chocolate-covered ants! De-lish!