At the end of January it became official: they can be used in the European Union. food products based on cricket flour. It goes without saying that the news has generated quite a bit of controversy (from those who say the new flour undermines the foundations of the Mediterranean diet, to those who argue that the maneuver will harm small farmers); but discussions aside, as he points out The Vegan Generationif legislation is an absolute novelty for the Old Continent, then in other countries of the world insects can be found in many foods: “In Africa, Asia and Latin America, eating insects is the basis of many cultures. Around the world, people use about 2100 species of insects for cooking.With crickets and grasshoppers among the world’s favorite street food snacks. They are eaten in almost 50 countries, including the US and Australia,” their website says. Then there is another surprising fact: cockroaches, commonly eaten in countries like Thailand and Madagascar, belong to the same family as shrimp. So much so that shrimp are often referred to as “sea cockroaches” because they have exactly the same eating habits as land cockroaches: they act like scavengers. They have the same ancestors, but then why do we eat shrimp in Western countries and consider cockroaches parasites? One main answer: cultural issues.

Cricket flour, in which products can we find it

The list of foods that will contain insect meal, mainly cricket meal, is quite long: first of all we find bread, multi-grain sandwiches, bread sticks, crackers, muesli, dry mixes for baking and cookies. This is followed by sauces, processed potato products, legumes and vegetables, pizza, pasta, whey powder, meat substitute products, concentrated or dry soups, snacks based on cornmeal. They also add to the list beer drinks, chocolate-based products, nuts and oilseeds, unpeeled snacks and prepared meats intended for general consumption. As he points out openin Bologna, the pizzeria Almiro in Osteria has already given birth to the first “hybrid” pizza, offering customers the opportunity to order pastry made from insect-based flour; Italy at the table he cites the case of 31-year-old chef Enrico Murdocco, owner of the Tellia pizzeria chain in the Piedmontese capital, who will experiment this year with cricket flour-based treats.

The future of food for insects

It remains, if we wish, one point can be clarified, e it’s about ethical issues.. Faced with a maneuver, we wondered if cricket meal and other insect-derived products would harm our health (the EU answer was given: no), we didn’t go any further. Will growing them be harmful to the environment? According to the FAO, edible insects are a key resource for the 21st century and should be considered as an alternative and sustainable source of protein. Some research shows how insects have a much smaller carbon and water footprint than “normal” farm animals.and how they benefit the health and social livelihoods of undernourished communities. What is the problem then? Killing methods: Crickets are killed by freezing (although the practice of grinding and heating is also common). They are often lyophilized and sometimes dried alive. We have been following the battles for animal welfare with interest for decades, will we be able to address them sooner or later yet?