In March, a BBC documentary will feature food writer Stefan Gates searching out and eating deep-fried locusts and barbecued tarantulas. But, behind all the gimmicks and jokes about flies in the soup, there is a deeply serious message. Many experts believe there is a clear environmental benefit to humans eating creepy-crawlies. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been funding projects since 2011 aimed at promoting the eating and farming of insects in south-east Asia and Africa, where an estimated two billion people already eat insects and caterpillar larvae as a regular part of their diet. In 2012, the FAO published a list of 1,909 edible species of insect and, with sponsorship from the Dutch government, plans a major international conference on “this valuable food source” in 2013.
According to experts, what will be an effect of eating insects?
Eating insects could improve the environment The environment will have fewer insects The introduction of a new food source to south-east Asia and Africa Eating insects will promote a healthy diet