Do you eat insects?

Of course you do. How much? Well that depends. There are insect pieces in almost all processed foods, so how much processed food you eat ultimately determines how many bugs you eat.  Urban legend has it that we eat one pound of insects per year, and thats without really paying any attention to it at all. If you’re already grossed out keep reading as it gets better.

Chapul is a new company that will have you eating insects on purpose. Crickets, specifically. They manufacture three flavours of energy bars that are made with crickets! No, not whole insects but rather cricket flour. Why you make ask? Well, crickets have been labelled the next big “superfood” if you subscribe to marketing buzz words. Insects in general require less land resources, emit fewer greenhouse gasses, and have a much smaller water demand than livestock and other animal substitutes such as soy, corn and rice. If you take 10 pounds of feed your net result would be 1 pound of beef or 8 pounds of crickets.

When it comes to water resources you get 71 grams of protein from crickets for 100 gallons of water. While this may not sound very impressive consider that soy provides 63 grams of protein for the same water use, while chicken provides 19 grams, corn provides 13 grams and beef just 6 grams of protein for that same 100 gallons of water.

If this still isn’t enough consider that insects are an extremely healthy, delicious, and sustainable form of protein. Humans have evolved eating insects, and even today, 80% of countries around the world have them on the menu in some form.

But don’t take my word for it, give the Chapul energy bars a try, with flavours such as Thai, Chaco and Aztec. Each flavour is delicious in its own way, with no crunch and a smooth texture, these things are great snacks. They’re also filling with 150-220 calories (most from good organic ingredients) in each bar and 70 of those calories are from fat which provides a solid slow burn.