Is it possible that insects such as crickets, ants and beetles will become the main food in the world in the future? A report recently published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations pointed out that insects are actually very suitable for human consumption, which are not only rich in nutritional value, low in breeding cost, but also less polluting to the environment, and can also solve the problems of uneven food and large obese population in the world. The United Nations report encourages people to eat more high-protein insects, which are nutritious and environmentally friendly. (Photo/taken from the British BBC)

Insects have high nutritional value

The British BBC reported that eating insects seems to be an unacceptable and strange thing for westerners, but in fact, more than 2 billion people around the world regard eating insects as a routine, and more than 1,911 species of insects have been eaten by people around the world.

A recent report published by the Forestry Department of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization also pointed out that in many parts of the world, insects are even delicacies, such as in South Africa, caterpillars belong to high-grade foods and are expensive. Every 111 grams of caterpillar, the content of protein is as high as 28.2 grams and iron is 35.5 mg, while mantis has 21.6 grams of protein, 35.2 mg of calcium and 5 mg of iron. Wasps, beetles and many other insects are also rich in many nutritional values.

Easy to eat and environmentally friendly

The author of the report even said that for developing children or people with unbalanced nutrition, insects are an excellent source to help supplement nutrition and help fight obesity. It is suggested that insects should be included in the restaurant menu and more kinds of insect-based recipes should be designed to make more people accept insects.

In addition, raising insects is more environmentally friendly than raising livestock. Taking crickets and cattle as a comparative example, under the condition of protein with the same output, crickets need as much as 11 times less feed than cattle. And the greenhouse gas emissions of most insect droppings are much lower than those of chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep.