Eating mealworms or locusts? Do not do it. At least, that is the idea with insects that we get from childhood. Putting an ant from the sandbox in your mouth is clearly not the intention. And that’s exactly why we as adults think it’s so crazy to suddenly eat it now. Nevertheless, Protix from Bergen op Zoom invests millions in getting their insects onto the consumer market. But is that realistic? “It’s in your head,” says food designer Jamie Penders. “A sausage roll with mealworm in it seems pretty good to me.”
“What you choose to eat is something very psychological,” explains Penders. “People who do eat meat are used to it from their upbringing. But eating a cat, dog or horse, we find very bad. Because we see that as our friends.” On the other hand, we hardly see insects as real animals. “They’re almost like undercuts for people. There’s something dirty about it.”
So you get your food choices from home for a bit. Your parents teach you what you should or shouldn’t put in your mouth and what you should eat to get enough nutrients.
However, the fact that insects do not necessarily appear in that diet does not necessarily mean that we will never consider this normal. “We still have to get used to it. Just like we found oat milk very strange at first, but that is also becoming more and more normal.”
“I quite like mealworms, a bit nutty. I don’t like locusts.”
But as exciting as the consumer finds it, the food industry itself finds it so interesting. “During my studies it was completely an item,” says Penders. “Even then there were bitterballs made of insects and chefs experimented with them.”
Processing insects in food is not only innovative because it is unknown and exciting, but also because it is a very sustainable method of extracting protein. And the taste? “I quite like mealworms, a bit nutty. I don’t like locusts.”
Because restaurants and chefs are experimenting with it, it is also becoming increasingly interesting for adventurous eaters. It gives them motivation to give it a try. “And I think it is also very interesting for people who are very concerned with health, but it may be just a bit too intense for the supermarket.” If people read on the packaging how many locusts are in such a burger, it might still be a bit of a shock.
“While eating a sausage roll, do you also think about the idea that you are eating a dead pig?”
Penders himself is also not averse to some experiments in the kitchen. “I think I would make a nice sausage roll from Brabant,” she muses. “You already have some vegetarian variants of that, so why not a sausage made from mealworms?”
She proposes to let the public taste them at trade fairs. Then it may take some getting used to, but also a good wake-up call. “Because while eating a normal sausage roll, do you also think about the idea that you are eating a dead pig?”
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