e still having trouble with the thought, consider that we already love to eat “sea bugs” like lobster, crab and shrimp, which along with insects, are all in the Arthropoda phylum of animals. Although the FAO has identified about 1,900 different varieties of edible insects, crickets are the most commonly consumed in America and are often thought of as the “gateway bug.” Many different companies are now offering products like protein powders, flours, energy bars, and even tortilla chips that contain cricket protein. In 2014, the business magazine Fast Company estimated that edible insects were already a $20 million industry in the U.S.—a figure predicted to grow, given their swarm of benefits for both the consumer and environment.
Nutritionally, insects are about 70 percent protein by dry weight, which is more than double that of chicken or beef. They are also a great source of fiber, vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium, and even contain significant amounts of healthful omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, insect exoskeletons contain chitin, a prebiotic nutrient that encourages the growth of healthy bacteria in our gut.
In terms of impact on the environment, insects far outshine traditional animal protein sources. For one thing, insects are consumed whole, so there is no waste. And although sustainability projections vary especially in a fledgling industry like this one, the farming of edible insects like crickets has the potential to be significantly more sustainable than that of pork, chicken or beef. Some industry estimates are that insects grow about 10 times faster and require 10 times less food than cattle, require hundreds or even thousands of times less water and land to grow, and also emit far fewer greenhouse gases.
However, in 2015 researchers at UC Davis published a study that examined cricket protein-to-feed ratios and found mixed results, leading them to conclude that some of the sustainability claims had been exaggerated. They said that the key to future cricket sustainability would depend largely on if farmers were able to find cost-effective ways to feed the orchestras (the name for a group of crickets) that didn’t compete with traditional livestock feed and instead used underutilized organic waste such as processed food waste and other sustainable side streams.