How to Eat Bugs, With the Help of a New Cookbook

Good eats come from everywhere, and they include bugs. Read all about it On Eating Insects, a new book from the Nordic Food Lab.

The book takes a deep dive into the realities of eating insects and looks at the topic from every angle: political, personal, cultural, historical. Many cultures around the world eat insects on a daily basis (especially in Africa and Asia) but for many in the West, the thought of eating insects seems, well, unappetizing to say the least.

RELATED: Bug Appetit: Eating Insects is the Latest (and Oldest) Culinary Trend

This book is the end of a three-year project called the “Deliciousness of Insects”, started in 2013 by the Nordic Food Lab, a part of the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen, and it’s a series of essays (from scientific to personal) that explore what it means to have insects as part of a daily diet.

Here’s what the director of the lab and co-author Michael Bom Frost had to say:

“You can be very clinical and scientific about eating insects. But, eating is also a part of our culture and, if you want to know how people use insects in cooking, you do it best by talking to those that cook with insects. The essays expand the topic so it becomes a greater and more coherent narration and the story about insects as an ingredient in our meals also becomes a story about diversity.”

And while the book covers eating insects as an argument for sustainability and because of their ability to add protein to light diets, the recipes in the book focus on taste. You should eat insects because they’re delicious, not because you have to, said the head of culinary research and development at the Nordic Food Lab, Roberto Flore. 

“If we want to integrate (insects) in our European diets we need to talk about taste before discussing proteins,” he said.

We’re all for this. As we already mentioned, insect rearing and transport emits fewer greenhouse gases (than the production of meat) and doesn’t require land clearing; insects are high in protein and serve as a good source of healthy fats, fiber, calcium, iron, and zinc; and they taste good. Don’t believe us? Add some to your guacamole and tacos and get back to us.

Watch below for more bug talk: