Depending on who you ask, insects are either gross or fascinating
As it turns out, they're also incredibly nutritious surprisingly delicious
and there's a chance they could help to alleviate world hunger and climate change
Already about 2 billion people regularly consume insects as part of their diet
Beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps and crickets and grasshoppers are by far the most popular
They're all packed full of protein, mono saturated fats,
vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Grasshoppers have as much protein as ground beef, for example
and per gram locusts contain as much protein as lobsters, shrimp, squid and mackerel
However, there's an abundance of insects all over the world
and we could use them to feed millions of starving people as well as ourselves.
As insects are also evolutionarily quite distant from humans
they are also thought to be far less likely to spread diseases that will affect us
unlike conventional livestock
Normally cattle require a lot of food and water to maintain them
and a majority of their body masses aren't actually edible
However insects take far less resources to grow and we can eat
almost every part of them
Traditional livestock also accounts for 18% of our greenhouse gas emissions
If the world farmed more insects for food
our carbon footprint would shrink dramatically
So, chomping on a cricket and help fight
against climate change too
You probably think that the texture and taste of bugs is unappetizing
Weirdly, a loss of our food already contains bug fragments
Up to 1% of regular chocolate can contain tiny bug bits
and there can be up to 50 aphids per 100 grams of spinach
Who knows? Maybe a sauteed spider or barbecued beetle is tastier than you think