We see insects every day, they invade our houses and gardens, they basically are everywhere and it seems weird to think of them as food .
Although we are used to considering animals of every kind as food, those with more than 4 legs are always unpopular.
Yet there are many countries in the world that have adopted this kind of nutrition, and insects can be found almost everywhere, transformed into any kind of food, with countless advantages.
Therefore, it's wrong to think of entomophagy as a plate of whole cockroaches or grasshoppers to taste.
The possibilities are much more and much different from the collective imagination. The problem is that for our culture, insects are disgusting and their mere sight makes a food unappetizing.
Here then, an amount of insects based products are springing and they are able not only to win the palate but the sight as well.
They come in many types.
Bars can be both sweet and salty, you just have to simply adjust some ingredients and all of them contain insect-meals.
Generally, the most preferred are those derived from grasshoppers and crickets, but even those with different types of worms are pretty common.
This kind of bars is rich in proteins and energetic, therefore ideal as a daily snack or while being on a diet. The taste is given by the added ingredients. Usually, are very popular the ones with cocoa, coconut flour or dried fruits.
Burgers:
Those made with insects are in all respects similar to the normal ones.
Among the most used animal, there are worms and larvae, in particular moth larvae, which have the ideal consistency to be molded in the typical burger shape and that, after cooking, reminds a normal chicken burger.
The flavor varies from insect to insect and can be enhanced with sauces derived from insects as well.
In some cases, burgers are made in part of the beef meat and in part of insect meat.
Sauces:
These are mixtures of sweet and savory, usually made with mealworms larvae, but also with some ant species.
To the insects, the base of the compound, are added the ingredients that deliver the flavor, such as carrots cream or tomato sauce.
Available on the market are also the sweet creams: the most popular among these are the chocolate (milk and dark) ones.
Even in these cases, the mealworms or crickets flour is used to produce some kinds of starches.The results is an animal-derived bread, with a lot of proteins and nutritious, so it may replace a classic steak.
The appearance of these products is in all respects similar to that of the original ones, making them edible even by those who feels a certain repugnance thinking about the arthropods as a food.
Naturally, those products are completely gluten-free.
Ice Cream, Cookies, and sweet treats:
A lot of sweet foods can be prepared with insects.
There are more than a few ice-cream producers, scattered around the world including Europe as well, that have chosen to mix insects' fragments to their products, mixing them with some flavors, such as chocolate or berries.
Still, on the market, there are some sweets products based on insects, such as biscuits and macaroons.
The braver ones can also try insects covered in chocolate . It is about natural insects, covered with white, milk, dark or licorice chocolate. In this case, in addition to worms, larvae, crickets and locusts, there are also scorpions.
Protein Powder and Snacks:
The entomophagy world has also thought about the bodybuilders.
There are many protein meals composed of insects.
Grasshoppers and crickets are the wider choices. These are optimal both for the simplicity of the production system to produce protein powder, both for their crunchiness, in case they are intended for the production of some mini snacks.
The high amount of proteins of these animals makes them a great choice for athletes.
Animal Food:
Pets and farm animals can benefit from the many advantages of insect-based foods.
There is some feeding stuff in the market designed for animals that need high doses of proteins, in which it is possible to find insects mixed with other ingredients, such as cereals and eggs.
The list of insect based products doesn't end here, but what we have said is enough to understand that it is possible to eat insects without seeing them, overcoming the instinctive sense of loathing that occurs at the sight of a dish full of crickets, grasshoppers or larvae.