(upbeat music)
- Mm, these cricket tacos are delicious.
Oh, you think eating bugs is weird? It's actually not.
It's estimated that roughly 2 billion people
around the world eat insects as part of their diet.
I mean, I myself grew up eating some bugs,
like chapulines, AKA grasshoppers.
Insects are actually a great source
of protein and nutrients.
So they can be a great alternative to meat.
Which gets me thinking,
if we were to replace meat with insects,
that might just help curve emissions
by cutting on meat production
and ultimately, it can help save the planet from overheating
and it can help fight food insecurity in the process.
Or can it? Let's find out.
On today's episode of "Can It Save The Planet?",
we're gonna find out the nutritional value of insects,
if they're a sustainable alternative to meat,
and if they provide food security.
We'll be talking to an insect ambassador
to learn more about cooking with bugs
and ultimately find out if eating bugs
can help save the planet.
Sponsored by Undo.org.
So first things first,
let's talk about the benefits of eating bugs.
I burrowed deep in the internet
to learn more about which bugs are edible
and to learn more about their nutritional value.
Turns out, crickets and grasshoppers
are some of the best insects you can eat.
Which is why regions like South America, Asia, and Africa
have incorporated these insects
into their meals for generations.
But to learn more about the benefits of eating bugs,
we're gonna turn to Brooklyn Bugs,
a group of edible insect ambassadors led by chef Joseph Yoon
who are trying to normalize bug eating in America
as a sustainable source of protein.
So let's find out how we can start eating bugs.
So I visited Joseph at his New York apartment
which is where Brooklyn Bugs is headquartered.
Joseph is such an expert in this area,
it was such a privilege to not only talk to him,
but to cook with him.
He told me one of the most important things
in a bug eating journey is to be accepting,
since this could be really weird for a lot of people.
- When someone's like, ew!
Right, I don't get angry at them.
I go like, I understand that this is a new thing
and that it could be viscerally disgusting for you.
However, the more opportunities that we have
to educate people to present this as food, period.
Not as like, I dare you to eat this,
like kind of sensationalizing it,
but truly just present it as breakfast, lunch,
dinner, snack, American, Mediterranean, Korean, Asian,
like all sorts of food and just present it quite simply
as this delicious, nutrient-dense smart food.
- [Alejandro] Interested in trying bugs?
Well, Joseph says getting your hands
on some insects to cook with
is actually easier than you might think.
- Of the hundreds of dishes that I share every year,
90 to 95% of those dishes are available online.
The only bugs that are an exception,
where they aren't available online are the cicadas
that I foraged and harvested myself last year.
- [Alejandro] You can just search for
packaged edible insects on your browser
and you'll see there are a few options
as to where to get bugs.
You'll even see some advertised as superfoods,
because insects are jam-packed with nutrients.
- Edible insects are extremely nutrient-dense,
they're packed with micro and macronutrients.
So it means that they're really high in protein.
You can have anywhere from 50 to 80%
of the insect's body weight comprised of protein.
That's extremely high, but not only that,
it's packed with different vitamins and minerals,
and so just a really smart food to eat.
It's also low in fat, low in carbohydrates.
It's like, why aren't we eating edible insects?
- Because we're afraid of them, but--
- Oh, right, that thing. Right.
- [Alejandro] So bugs are good for you,
but do they taste good?
Well, much like any other type of food,
that depends on how you cook it.
- When people are intrigued about cooking with insects,
what I love to recommend
is think about the best dish that you can make.
If you're great at making stir fry noodles,
then I would suggest, okay,
why don't we work with making stir fry noodles
and integrate crickets into them?
- [Alejandro] But before you start cooking,
make sure you don't have any allergies.
- Insects have chiton, the protein,
it's part of their exoskeleton.
And it comprises of the same protein
that's found in shellfish.
So if you have a shellfish allergy,
you might wanna exercise some caution.
But you might know someone that's allergic to crabs
but not shrimp, right?
Some people are just allergic to one insect,
so everyone has a different sort of reaction to this
but we issue a shellfish allergy warning just in case.
- [Alejandro] Are you still grossed out? Well, that's fair.
But don't knock it until you try it.
Googling some more info on edible bugs
might help you get there.
- They say in marketing,
that you need seven points of exposure to adopt a new idea.
So we really just try to create as many points
of intersection to create more conversations
and the opportunity to be able to talk about this
in more manners than just coming from a point of rhetoric
or dogma around environmentalism.
- I mean, you just inspired me to go home
and make tacos with crickets and grasshoppers.
So I will be doing that after this interview.
- I can't wait to see how it comes out.
(upbeat music)
- All right, so that was delicious.
Now I feel super inspired.
So now need to get back home
and try some insect cooking myself, so let's go.
I wanted to take a moment to thank Undo.org
for sponsoring this episode.
They teamed up with us because there's an urgent issue
that deserves more attention now.
The massive microplastics problem caused by cigarette butts.
Each year, the tobacco industry produces
more than 6 trillion cigarettes.
And cigarette butts,
they're one of the most littered items on earth.
And they're mid with microplastics.
Microplastics have been found in our food, our water,
the air, and inside of us.
Recent studies even indicate links between microplastics
and mutations in DNA.
To learn more about how you can get involved,
visit Undo.org.
Now, back to the episode.
Now I bought some crickets to cook with.
So I'm going to see
if incorporating insects into my diet is sustainable.
Because we now know the benefits of eating bugs,
but we still don't house switching chicken with crickets
can help solve world hunger or even fight climate change.
Now, eating a bug might come off more of an exotic dish
in places like New York City,
but there are other places around the world
where eating bugs is the only option to survive
climate change related events like heat waves and droughts.
In Madagascar for example,
some of the population has consumed bugs
as a seasonal snack throughout generations.
But the current famine has resulted
in more of the population turning to insect consumption
as a matter of survival.
Thankfully, there is someone already
working on addressing this issue.
Valala Farms currently produces
100 kilograms of crickets per week,
yielding 65 kilograms of protein powder.
But it's currently scaling up its production
aiming to produce up to 31,000 pounds
of cricket powder each year,
which is equivalent to 551,000 meals a year.
Although insects have been helping communities
fight food insecurity,
they're not exclusively being used for malnutrition.
In other parts of the world,
insects are being presented as superfoods.
They're more sustainable for the planet
like this bag of crickets that I cooked with.
There's also a company in Canada that farms, processes
and sells crickets for human and pet consumption.
And yes, you could give your pet insects, too.
Although quite honestly, my dog, he would eat anything.
These crickets are so tasty, but wait,
before I eat another taco, let's go back
to talking about the sustainability aspect of insects
as a food alternative.
The FAO suggests edible insects
are a promising alternative to going meat free
in a future that is heavily impacted by climate change.
You see, the farming of insects requires less land,
water and feed than traditional livestock.
Therefore, they produce significantly less
greenhouse gas emissions and science has backed this up.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki
found there's a great potential
to reduce a carbon footprint of European consumers
if they were to switch to insect protein.
So we've learned three things so far.
Number one, insects provide high levels of nutrients.
Number two, they're helping rural communities
with food security and number three,
they're easier on the environment when mass farming.
But we still haven't fully answered the question, have we?
Can insects save the planet?
Well, in some places it already is.
But how can we grow those case studies at a global scale?
This question is mostly for Western folks.
Let's be real.
Insects will probably never replace meat,
and they don't have to.
But even if insects were to be widely available everywhere
starting tomorrow, the challenge then
would have to be getting over the psychological barrier
of crunching into insects.
You know, the creatures most of us learn to hate
and fear as children?
There are technical and cultural barriers to overcome
before most people are eating insects on a daily basis.
I'd also like to remind you that insect consumption
is not necessarily recommended for all groups of people.
So it's not a one size fits all solution.
And let me be clear,
the reason why I say this is a problem for Western folks
is because a lot of people around the world
already eat insects.
Americans, however, might be more willing than you think.
According to an online survey published
by the "Journal of Insects as Food and Feed",
72% of Americans are willing to consider eating insects.
Which is good news because if the climate crisis worsens,
they might not have an option.
So yes, insects can help save the planet.
So there you have it. Insects could be our salvation.
Does this make you want to try insects tonight?
If you do, then hit me up with recipes.
Mm.
Bug appetit.
(upbeat music)
- [Man] Let's do it one more time. (laughs)