# Food Prediction: We'll be eating bugs within 10 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915 "2016-04-23T16:39:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/21 "2016-04-24T07:44:56Z")
Yanno, I’ve been thinking about this. Bugs and grubs as Bugs and grubs I see taking longer, but dracoi mentioned “cricket flour”. I can see bugs and grubs becoming a staple of the American diet on a large commercial scale this way in the next 10 years (followed by a huge backlash when the public finds out what that “other protein” on the ingredients means) I’ve had grubs, they were prepared in a way that made them taste like and have a similar mouth-feel to popcorn. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/22 "2016-04-24T16:37:48Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have eaten grasshoppers, bees, ants and caterpillars. I prefer cheeseburgers. > > Yeah, you’re crazy. FWIW I think bugs are gross and I hate this entire idea but I still think I am right. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/23 "2016-04-24T17:14:02Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > Many people are not able to eat gluten or soy. Maybe true allergies are not that common, but lesser levels of gastric distress, diarrhea, projectile vomiting, and general malaise are not. The recent gluten-free fad suggests that there are enough people who _think_ they have such sensitivity to have an effect on the market. (The actual research suggests that the actual numbers a much smaller, but still significant and much larger than gluten-free scoffers like me used to think). Nevertheless, I’m doubtful that the number of people who can’t (or think they can’t) eat gluten AND can’t eat soy AND won’t eat beef/pork/seafood for environmental/sustainability reasons AND would prefer to eat bugs than limit themselves to chicken (much more sustainable, as I understand) or even vegetables, grains and pulses other than soy and wheat is enough to fill a small hotel room, much less drive a major shift in national eating habits. Beef is not environmentally sustainable. That doesn’t mean we won’t keep producing it, even at great environmental cost. It may become more expensive, but even if it does, we have plenty of options for other things to eat, and we’reworking on developing more. Most of the ways society could respond to greatly more expensive beef would require some shift in national eating habits, but even the most drastic of likely options - moving everybody to a mostly vegetarian diet - would still be a much smaller shift than large-scale acceptance of bugs as food. And I say that as someone who has happily eaten insects on several occasions. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/24 "2016-04-24T17:44:09Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > So? Just because it’s not very efficient doesn’t mean people aren’t going to keep dedicating the resources (which we generally have an abundance of) for a very long time to come. Due to the increasing demand for exported US beef as well as beef lobbyists, this is likely true. However, if you think all the beef you eat is from the US, you are mistaken. Some of our beef is from China and other countries but due to Congress repealing the country of origin meat labeling law we’ll never know. Ground beef can have the beef of four different countries. More and more of our food supply is coming from China. It’s scary. I avoid the whole mess and try to eat food grown locally, and I don’t eat beef at all. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/25 "2016-04-24T19:16:32Z")
Soy is a top 10 food allergen, Anything that high on the list should probably not be considered as a staple source of anything. Insect protein on the other hand I would actually prefer. (since soy does bad things to me) I would totally cook with bug protein, it sucks that its not already a thing. It would be a great alternate to pig/cow/chicken that would resemble TVP (a soy product) without the allergen problem. Cows are a major source of greenhouse gasses. So there is that reason to stop farming them in the millions. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/26 "2016-04-24T21:17:57Z")
There is as much chance of this happening as the rat burgers from Demolition Man happening. Or all restaurants being Taco Bell, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/27 "2016-04-24T21:23:25Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > There is as much chance of this happening as the rat burgers from Demolition Man happening. > > Or all restaurants being Taco Bell, for that matter. Olive Garden, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/28 "2016-04-24T21:33:53Z")
What about something like this? > **[Vegan Burger Meat, Crumbles, & Sausages | Beyond Meat](https://www.beyondmeat.com/en-US)** > > Beyond Meat is plant-based, vegan meat that's tasty & better for you and for our planet. Find us in the meat aisle or subscribe for Beyond Meat delivery. They’re claiming to essentially build meat from the microscopic level using plant sourced materials. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/29 "2016-04-24T21:53:22Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > They’re claiming to essentially build meat from the microscopic level using plant sourced materials. Isn’t that essentially what you do by raising livestock? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/30 "2016-04-24T21:58:33Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > What advantage do insects have over soybeans or wheat gluten? As a general rule, more options are better than fewer options. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/31 "2016-04-24T22:15:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > As a general rule, more options are better than fewer options. And yet, people will loudly and repeatedly complain that they are allergic to whatever options food scientists come up with. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/32 "2016-04-24T22:37:43Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > As a general rule, more options are better than fewer options. What about the shitburger scientists created a few years ago using processed fecal matter? I agree that we’re better off having that option than not having it, but it don’t think “soylent brown” is going to be the next foodie craze. And yet it has the same pros and cons as insect meat: it’s much more efficient, cheap, readily available, and sustainable than beef, meets a very real need for sustainable food (which we are currently capable of meeting only through the numerous other options already discussed), and most people in the US find the concept utterly disgusting. Do you disagree? Do you think shit will be the new sirloin? ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/33 "2016-04-24T22:40:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I mean in the US since other cultures already do eat bugs. In traditional cultures yes. You’re not going to find bugs even close to available in Dublin or Melbourne, or for that matter the upscale regions of India or China. > [@](#): > > What we eat, for the most part, is controlled by a handful of companies and they know that the world doesn’t have the resources to feed everyone cows forever. Most companies barely think 10 years in the future, for that matter “forever”. > [@](#): > > Western culture doesn’t because they are disgusting so that is really the only hurdle. A _ **major** _ hurdle, don’t you think? > [@](#): > > Here’s how they could fix that: the first step is to breed them so they A) look less like bugs after processing and B) taste good, or even better don’t taste like anything at all so they can just bury them in salt and other flavors. You’re massively underestimating the difficulty of this. It’s trying to make broccoli taste like chocolate. And to the marketing, despite what many people think, humanity is not a bunch of sheeple. If they could be convinced to like anything, why would so many ad campaigns fail? And that’s for established products, not a notion with so many negative factors like eating bugs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/34 "2016-04-24T23:11:59Z")
Beef is actually a highly efficient way of raising food. There are large expanses of land in the world where absolutely nothing fit for human consumption will grow sustainably, but which can grow grass. So humans raise cattle to eat the grass, and then eat the cattle. Compared to the nothing you’d get without the cattle, this is huge. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/35 "2016-04-24T23:24:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Beef is actually a highly efficient way of raising food. There are large expanses of land in the world where absolutely nothing fit for human consumption will grow sustainably, but which can grow grass. So humans raise cattle to eat the grass, and then eat the cattle. Compared to the nothing you’d get without the cattle, this is huge. While this is true in some parts of the world, it has absolutely no bearing on how beef is actually raised in the Western Hemisphere. Globally, you I suppose you might be able to argue that beef _could be_ a highly efficient way of raising food, but given the amount of beef raised in the New World and how it’s raised, it is simply false to say that it is anything but phenomenally wasteful and environmentally disastrous. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/36 "2016-04-24T23:45:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Beef is actually a highly efficient way of raising food. There are large expanses of land in the world where absolutely nothing fit for human consumption will grow sustainably, but which can grow grass. So humans raise cattle to eat the grass, and then eat the cattle. Compared to the nothing you’d get without the cattle, this is huge. Cows can eat all sorts of crops grown on land that just won’t support human edible crops. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/37 "2016-04-24T23:48:08Z")
But in the US that is not, in fact, what the cows are eating. They eat things like corn, which could be eaten by human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/38 "2016-04-24T23:50:19Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > What about the shitburger scientists created a few years ago using processed fecal matter? …_[snip]_…Do you disagree? Do you think shit will be the new sirloin? That was an… interesting laboratory tour de force, but that’s all it is, a trick. On the other hand, various group of humans have eaten bugs over the course of history and prehistory. Shit: a waste product no one eats without extensive processing. Bugs: something people have eaten, often in a largely unaltered state. Pretty sure bugs are more likely to become a food fad than shitburgers, for the above reasons. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/39 "2016-04-25T00:02:24Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > > [@davidm](#): > > > > What about something like this? > > > > [http://beyondmeat.com/](http://beyondmeat.com/) > > > > They’re claiming to essentially build meat from the microscopic level using plant sourced materials. > > Isn’t that essentially what you do by raising livestock? 😃 Exactly, but supposedly in a much more sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915/40 "2016-04-25T00:26:22Z")
It’s been researched and researched so many times in the U.S. that now [the undergraduates are writing papers about it.](https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2015/04/insects-its-whats-for-dinner/) > [@](#): > > Mealworms can be fried and eaten whole or made into bread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-prediction-well-be-eating-bugs-within-10-years/752915.md?page=3)