Yummy insects!

Pestered by agricultural insects? Eat them!

Why not “adobong camaru” (male cricket)? Or toasted migratory locust (balang)? Barbecue flavored worm crisps? And salagubang (June beetle)?

For desert, how about toasted or chocolate-coated giant ants?

In the science world, it is called entomophagy, or the art and culture of eating arthropods (invertebrate animals that have a jointed body and limb).

Gram for gram, many highly nutritious insects, in dried or cooked form, have twice the protein content of raw meat or fish, and are also rich in important vitamins and minerals.

One study found that a 150-gram dish of camaru provides 28 percent and 74 percent of the daily energy and protein requirements, respectively of average Filipinos 19 to 49  years old.

“While the idea of eating insects is not for everyone, human consumption of insects is actually very common in many parts of the world,” said Dean Candida Adalla of the University of the Philippines Los Baños-College of Agriculture (UPLB-CA).

About 1,400 species of insects are eaten by humans worldwide, showing the potential of this animal group for food and source of livelihood, Dr. Adalla reported in a scientific paper titled “Edible Insects in the Philippines: Opportunities for Livelihood and Management  of Pest Problems.”

She discussed the subject at the Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS), a weekly scientific and policy forum sponsored by the UPLB-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA). A braindchild of SEARCA director Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, ADSS invites professors, scientists, and experts in the Los Baños Science Community (LBSC)  to discuss pressing issues in their respective fields of specialization.

Citing researches, Dr. Adalla said at least 527 different insects are commonly eaten in 36 African countries. In Asia and the Pacific, insects are eaten in 29 countries, and in the Americas, 23 species.

In northern Thailand, nearly 200 insect species are traditionally part of the “poor man’s diet”, she said. “Nowadays, many of these insects have moved ‘up-market’ and it’s a common sight to see  vendors selling tasty insect treats throughout the country, even in metropolitan Bangkok.”

The Philippines also has one of the richest arthroped faunas in the world.

Except for honeybees, practically all species reportedly eaten are pests of agricultural crops and are hunted in the forest or where the associated crops are grown.

“(There is) no reported systematic rearing for food consumption or trade,” Dr. Adalla said.

Among the popular Philippine edible insects is male cricket. For instance, the Cabalen chain of restaurants in Metro Manila features “adobong camaru” as a house “specialty dish”, she said.

To this day, however, entomophagy is not a day-to-day event maybe because of the unavailability of a regular supply of edible insects and prevalence of other food alternatives at comparatively affordable prices in urban and rural areas.

Other negative factors are the concerns over the  quality and food safety of edible species collected from the wild and lack of public awareness of the nutritive value of edible insects.

Dr. Adalla recommended mass production of edible insects as sources of livelihood to alleviate rural poverty and hunger and ensure good quality stocks.

Effective means of creating public awareness on the nutritive and maybe “alternate” medicinal value of edible insect species should also be crafted. Moreover, new and more acceptable recipes and food processing should be developed to remove the “yucky” bias against insects as food.

An effective marketing support system to ensure the growth of this new agribusiness window is also necessary, Dr. Adalla concluded.   — Rudy A. Fernandez