Slowly but surely a new trend is ‘creeping’ up and eating insects is becoming more common in the Western world. To most British people the idea of eating a bug is strange or even outright disgusting but it’s actually quite common in other parts of the world. Countries like Cambodia and Thailand rely on tarantulas and crickets as part of a balanced diet and this is starting to spread onto our shores. OK, you’re hardly going to see any creepy crawly cuisine next to the sandwiches and sushi in Pret A Manger anytime soon but there have been some sightings of insect based recipes being offered up in stylish pop-up restaurants.
We first became aware of this growing trend back in March when Wahaca – a sustainable Mexican street-food restaurant – trialed an Insect Moussaka recipe for a month at their South Bank outlet. We posted about it on our Facebook page at the time and tried to convince Fiona to give it ago. She was, however, less than keen to do so.
But if she had gone to check it out, whilst we can’t vouch for the taste of the meal, she would have certainly been given a healthy meal. Healthy, slimy yet satisfying. Insects are high in protein and nutrients like omega-3 while remaining low in fat and cholesterol. Caterpillars, for example, provide more protein and more iron than the same quantity of minced beef. On top of the dietary benefits insects could also provide a more energy efficient food supply than traditional livestock and the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation has highlighted them as a potentially valuable source of food for the world’s rapidly growing population.
So eating insects is a good idea but can it catch on? Well, the last couple of days have provided some examples that suggest maybe it can.
Yesterday, Rentokil, the country’s leading pest control company, set up a pop-up stall serving free grub made out of grubs. Rentokil’s ‘Pop-up Pestaurant’ served wasabi weaver ants, BBQ grasshoppers and chocolate dipped bugs. They did little to sugar the pill (or should that be caterpillars?) by disguising what people were eating, opting to simply serve up handfuls of mealworms and salt & vinegar crickets to anybody brave enough to have a taste. People who sampled the creepy crawlies apparently tended to find the taste to be slimy yet satisfying but it was just too much of a culture shock. That was fine though – it was more of a fun exercise in promoting Rentokil than genuinely suggesting that insects could be used as an alternative food source.
The Ento project, on the other hand, is far more committed to bringing new ways of eating insects into the mainstream. The project began when Aran Dasan, Jacky Chung, Jonathan Fraser and Julene Aguirre-Bielschowsky worked together on the Innovation Design Engineering joint Masters course at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. They all had a desire to work on creative approaches to sustainable systems for food security and saw insects as the answer to the best approach. They’ve since worked to adjust the image of insect cuisine by presenting insects in different ways. A key development came when Kim Insu, who is a chef in training at Le Cordon Bleu, came onboard to help produce the food.
One way they see of breaking the Western taboo regarding eating insects is to always avoid presenting the food in too straightforward a way. Instead of looking like what they are, Ento’s insect foods are beautifully packaged and look really tasty. Jon Fraser told Wired Magazine that during his research “one quote was really interesting: ‘It’s not the knowing, it’s the seeing.’ For many people, an insect in front of you is too much. If you abstract it, people become more accepting.” Hence, rather than just slapping a caterpillar or grasshopper on a plate they serve Buffalo Caterpillar and Chives Pâté or Grasshopper Mousse.
It’s a different approach and one that could catch on. Ento products look more like sushi bento sets that the creepy crawlies that they actually contain. So, although honey caterpillar and grasshopper medallions with a creamy pistachio nut flavour, served alongside wild mushroom ravioli, girolles and black trufle may not seem like traditional cuisine it could be coming to a plate near you in the not too distant future.
Ento have a long term plan which they think can build towards insects being served in supermarkets across the country as soon as 2020. At the moment they’re in phase one of this plan which sees them setting up pop-up restaurants to promote their idea. Currently, Ento are operating in conjunction with Grey Goose vodka to put on a three evening event in the latter’s Iconoclasts of Taste series in South East London. The event features an “exquisite four course menu designed to showcase the possibilities of insect cuisine, with each innovative dish paired with a bespoke Grey Goose cocktail”. If it goes well then who knows what will happen next for Ento?
They will be aiming to have shown that, with the right packaging and presentation, insects could become a staple of our diets. Looking at images of their food it really looks more appealing than you could have imagined an insect based dish to appear. Ento say that “insects are a healthy, tasty, and sustainable source of protein.” So maybe if they can convince people to try the food just once, it could take off. You just have to hope that the insects don’t literally take off before you can eat them!
But what do you think, would you be willing to eat insect cuisine?
I hope that this doesn’t catch on!