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#1
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01-23-2011, 07:23 PM
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 ☢ Poster Rank:82 Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 18,649
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Edible Insects Will Eventually Replace Meat....
From correspondents in Wageningen, Netherlands AFP January 24, 2011 DUTCH student Walinka van Tol inspects the worm protruding from a half-eaten chocolate praline she's holding, steels herself with a shrug, then pops it into her mouth. "Tasty ... kind of nutty!" the 20-year-old assures her companions clutching an array of creepy crawly pastries at a seminar, which forecast that larvae and locusts will invade Western menus as the price of steak and chops skyrocket. Ms Van Tol and about 200 other tasters were guinea pigs for a group of Dutch scientists doing groundbreaking research into insects replacing animal meat as a healthier, more environmentally friendly source of protein. "There will come a day when a Big Mac costs 120 euros and a Bug Mac 12 euros, when more people will eat insects than other meat," head researcher Arnold van Huis told a disbelieving audience at Wageningen University in the central Netherlands. "The best way to start is to try it once," the entomologist insisted. At break time, there is a sprint for the snack tables with a spread of Thai marinated grasshopper spring rolls, buffalo worm chocolate gnache, and a seemingly innocent pastry "just like a quiche lorraine, but with meal worms instead of bacon or ham", according to chef Henk van Gurp. The snacks disappear quickly to the delight of the chef and organisers. But the university's head of entomology Marcel Dicke knows that changing Westerners' mindset will take more than disguising a worm in chocolate. "People think it is something dirty. It generates a Fear Factor response," citing the reality series that tests competitors' toughness by feeding them live insects. Professor Dicke said Westerners had no choice but to shed their bug bias, with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation predicting there will be nine billion people on the planet by 2050 and agricultural land already under pressure. "We have to eat less meat or find an alternative," said Professor Dicke, who claims to sit down to a family meal of insects on a regular basis. Bugs are high in protein, low in fat and efficient to cultivate - 10 kilograms of feed yields 6-8 kilograms of insect meat compared to one kilogram of beef, states the university's research. Insects are abundant, produce less greenhouse gas and manure, and do not transfer any diseases, when eaten, that can mutate into a dangerous human form, say the researchers. "The question really should be: 'Why do we NOT eat insects?," said Professor Dicke, citing research that the average person unwittingly eats about 500 grams of bug particles a year anyway - in strawberry jam, bread and other processed foods. According to professor Van Huis, about 500 types of insects are eaten in Mexico, 250 in Africa and 180 in China and other parts of Asia - mostly they are a delicacy. One avid European convert is Marian Peters, secretary of the Dutch insect breeders association, Venik, who likes to snack on grasshoppers and refers to them as "the caviar of insects". "They are delicious stir fried with good oil, garlic and red pepper and served in a taco," said Ms Peters.   · |
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#2
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01-23-2011, 07:43 PM
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 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Poster Rank:91 Female Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 17,112 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 26 Post(s)
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Re: Edible Insects Will Eventually Replace Meat....
Bugs really aren't that bad, depending. Raw is kind of icky, but cooked is okay. Add a little steak sauce and you got yourself something tasty!!! But....but....NOTHING will EVER replace the bacon!!!  |
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#7
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01-24-2011, 09:30 AM
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 My Rank: STAFF SERGEANT Poster Rank:777 Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,015 Mentioned: 2 Post(s) Quoted: 34 Post(s)
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Re: Edible Insects Will Eventually Replace Meat....
i quit eating meat some years ago although i still eat seafood. back when there were dinosaurs, i was in jr high school and our science teacher brought in fried grasshoppers (i think they were salted)and whoever was willing could have one. i tried one and it actually was tasty. tasted a lot like popcorn. i'd rather eat them if prepared and are tasty than to see the damned things in my apartment alive. save a pig eat an earwig! |
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#8
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01-24-2011, 10:22 AM
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 ★ Legacy Member ★ Poster Rank:6 What we've got here is failure to communicate. Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 103,591
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Re: Edible Insects Will Eventually Replace Meat....
So if locusts or grasshoppers are so cheap, and steak so expensive....then how much will chocolate or all of these condiments being used cost?.
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