What's the Buzz on Eating Bugs? Can Insects Really Save the World?

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2024

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

About ten years ago, insects were constantly being hyped as the future of food. Headlines proclaimed that, within the decade, everyone would be eating bugs as part of their daily diet—and saving the planet in the process. But while the buzz on edible insects hasn’t completely turned to crickets, the ento-revolution hasn't proceeded exactly as planned. In the Western world, insects are not yet what's for dinner, and, even in parts of the world where bugs are a traditional and treasured part of the cuisine, their consumption is on the decline. So what's the deal? Can edible insects really help solve climate change and world hunger? And, if so, what's stopping us from jumping on the bug bandwagon? Listen in this episode as we debunk insect conspiracy theories and sexist archaeology, savor tangy ants and a cicada bonanza, and visit Madagascar to tell the heart-warming tale of how a bacon-flavored bug is helping feed villagers, while saving an adorable primate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You recognize that awful noise, it's the sound of a massive insect invasion.
0:08.0	Trillions of cicadas are emerging across 12 states, from the Midwest to the East Coast after more than a decade underground.
0:16.6	The collective noise from the insects can be as loud as a jet engine.
0:20.8	It is so loud that some residents in South Carolina call the police.
0:24.4	Secadas are also beginning to come out in Illinois, which will see two broods
0:30.1	co-emerge for the first time in 200 years.
0:33.7	Trillions of cicadas came out of hiding this summer
0:36.4	all around the US, and some people were talking about eating them.
0:40.2	What I found is that the Teraur
0:42.1	will tremendously impact the flavor.
0:46.0	The Cakeda lives underground for 13 or 17 years,
0:50.0	slowly feasting on plant or tree's island and so it's going to give it a very
0:55.4	vegetal quality with a little mild hint of nuttiness which is exactly the
1:01.9	tasting notes I'm looking for in my wine and also I guess my
1:06.3	cicadas. We by the way are Gastropod the podcast that looks at food through the lens
1:10.8	of science and history I'm Nicola Twilly. Although my husband calls
1:14.5	me bugs, I hope affectionately. And I'm Cynthia Graber. In this episode we are indeed all about
1:20.8	bugs, the real ones, not Nicky.
1:22.8	For a lot of folks in the US and Europe, eating insects is either super adventurous and unusual,
1:30.0	or if you've watched so much Fox that your brain has melted,
1:33.8	an evil plot foisted on you by the global elite.
1:37.4	It's part of a larger agenda.
	...

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