Washington Square News recently published an article about the growing popularity of insects as a food source in America. Insects are already a part of many other countries’ diets. The news article details a restaurant in New York called The Black Ant that creates different dishes inspired by Mexican Insect-eating culture. From a culinary perspective, the introduction of insects as an ingredient is an exciting possibility. A few dishes mentioned in the article included: “cricket flour cookies, grasshopper tacos, fried worms and rootworm beetle dip”. I imagine other very creative possibilities exist too. Personally, I’m very excited that insects are entering American culture as more mainstream protein option, since traditional sources such as beef are significantly more detrimental to the environment. Additionally, traditional sources of meat such as beef, pork, or chicken and don’t provide nearly as much nutritional value as a lot of insect options do. However, I think if insects rise to become a popular new food source in America, the consequences of farming/processing them on such a large scale should be considered. For example, mass-production could create an overpopulation of a certain species. Say there was some type of failure in the farm facility—this could cause an outbreak and infestation that could throw natural ecosystems out of balance. However, a cool thing about insects is that they are very small and require very few resources to rear so people could grow them in their own home. Growing insects in homes, when compared to the amount of energy that it takes to raise/process/transport meat is clearly the more sustainable option.

Source Article — http://www.nyunews.com/2016/09/19/insects-could-be-your-next-diet-staple/

How to build your own Mealworm farm — http://www.instructables.com/id/Mealworm-Farm/