Gep-eders: No request for information or book to promote (yet), but I thought I would share an anecdote from one of my classes. We are discussing the global food crisis in my senior environmental studies capstone class here at Boston College, and in yesterday's lecture we were discussing ways that nations can address food security. We got through GMOs, fisheries/aquaculture, and food sovereignty, and turned to "alternate" sources of food.
Marcel Dicke, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, makes a good case that, with global population and affluence on the rise, the planet's resources cannot support that much more meat production, so insects could and should be a viable source of animal protein. He published a similar article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that included a recipe for Crispy Crickets, so I bought some at a local Petsmart, fixed them up according to the recipe, and brought them to class. At the end of the lecture, after we watched the video promoting insects as food, I turned to the students and said, "Now we're going to try some" and pulled out these crickets. (To be fair, I told them that I was not expecting the students to do anything the faculty was not willing to do, so my co-professor and I both ate one in front of the whole class. "Nutty-tasting" is indeed the word.) I was expecting a lot of "ewww" and "I'm not eating that," but they fell on these crickets like they hadn't eaten dinner in a week! Everyone ate one, some even came back for seconds. This is why I love teaching! Here is the link to the TED talk, and to the Wall Street Journal article: http://www.ted.com/talks/marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106072340020728.html?KEYWORDS=%22six-legged+meat%22 Will college students really eat anything? Apparently. -Beth -- Elizabeth L. Chalecki, PhD Visiting Asst Professor International Studies Program, Environmental Studies Program Boston College 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 chalecki [at] bc.edu elizabeth.chalecki [at] gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/chalecki
