If you’re someone with entomophobia (a fear of bugs) or you just don’t like them, the thought of eating bugs is sure to creep you out; you may even start to feel sick to your stomach. Depending on your culture, eating bugs may be as common as eating meat, or it may be a delicacy. Entomophagy is the practice of eating bugs, and surprisingly about 2 billion people eat them each day.
For those of you who do not eat bugs the question is: should you eat bugs and what are the benefits of eating them? This video from TED-Ed is pretty convincing. It explains how eating bugs dates back to our ancestors, yet over the years we’ve become urbanized and have lost our taste for bugs.
Starting around the 1:45 mark, you’ll see that there still are some areas in the world where eating bugs is culturally acceptable. Be sure to watch the entire video to see some international bug recipes; around the 2:25 mark you’ll start to learn the health benefits of these little critters. Would you believe that most edible bugs are contain much more iron than beef?
Personally, I just cannot see myself eating any type of bug, no matter how nutritious it is. How about you? In due time, do you think entomophagy will make a comeback?
