Find a meat-eater near you. Right now. Ask them to count on their fingers the number of different animals they actually eat. Do they run out? Every now and then you’re presented with a fact that really surprises you, really shifts your perspective. Joining in on an Entocall the other day (an online conference to discuss edible insects), I was taken aback by psychology professor Paul Rozin’s point that the animals we actually consider ‘edible’ are a tiny fraction of what’s out there. You might consider this a good thing, especially if you’re vegetarian, but it raises the interesting point: why do we label anything other than chicken breast and beef steak as ‘disgusting’?  Dig deeper →

When I tried my first mealworm at a food festival in Prague, I was hooked. Many of my friends, however, turned up their noses and had strong negative reactions – despite knowing little about the topic. Fascinated by their adamant attitudes, I went on a mission to find out why exactly my friends from around the globe find the concept of eating insects so disgusting.  Dig deeper →

I’m a big advocate of edible insects, and watching their popularity soar in recent years has been exciting. When I started down this path, people weren’t willing to take the leap. Now, I have to stop them before their first bite – because it turns out you can actually be allergic to insects. What a disaster!  Dig deeper →

I mandags var miljø- og fødevareminister Esben Lunde Larsen på besøg til en temadag på Heimdal Entofarm. Formålet var at få ministeren i tale om, hvordan insekter kan være en del af fremtidens landbrug i Danmark - og få ham og hans ministerium til at bløde lidt op på lovgivningsfronten.  Dig deeper →

While the appetite for edible bugs increases, and start-ups for cricket farms and new products appear regularly, it’s getting to a bit of a crunch point legally. Insects still inhabit a legal grey area, and it remains to be seen how new European Union rules will play out. For more detail on the situation within the EU see our article Ban them or boost them! The EU’s struggle with edible insects. Yet not all countries in Europe are in the EU, and recently two non-EU states took very different paths: in Switzerland a programme of legalisation saw more than ten species given the stamp of approval; in Iceland the opposite happened.  Dig deeper →

Following his comments on our controversial Facebook post about the BUGSfeed article 'Are insects better for you than meat?', we invited Max Anstey from Warwickshire to give us his view on edible insects – from the perspective of a vegan! While some people may consider it innovative to create a high-protein food made from bugs (presumably bred and killed for this purpose) I don't find it necessary, ethical, or efficient to do so when compared to a plant-based diet.  Dig deeper →

This week has been a big one for the edible-insect industry, as insect protein company Exo revealed the news that they managed to secure $4 million in financing from venture capitalists. This is the first time ever an insect protein startup completes a 'Series A', which is the first round of external investment in a startup after seed capital.  So whether you like eating insects or not, investors think there’s money to be made of others doing so – and plenty of people are on the prowl to tell you just how to do so, and exactly how much money.  Dig deeper →