What happened in the world of insect eating in September? Thanks to the Swiss insect burgers, IKEA accelerator, the Brooklyn Bugs festival, and Taste of the West Awards, we are several steps closer to insects being a part of our normal diet!
Popular Swiss insect burgers fly off the shelves
The Swiss supermarket chain Coop has begun selling burgers and meat-balls made from insects. It's a legal first in Europe.
“The goal is to convince consumers to try a nutritious, if unusual, food that preserves the planet's resources," Coop says.
Seven Coop stores in Switzerland are serving this type of burger at the moment and during the limited rollout consumers had the insect products flying off the shelves. A change in Swiss law in May allows the sale for human consumption of three types of insects: mealworm larvae, house crickets and migratory locusts. Switzerland is paving the road for insect eating to become normal. We are happy to hear that! Which country will be next?
Insects coming to an IKEA restaurant near you
Insect protein innovator Flying SpArk Ltd is among IKEA’s start-up selection. Flying SpArk is a new food-tech company focused on all-natural protein extracted from the Mediterranean fruit fly for human consumption.
“IKEA has a huge reach, 389 restaurants in 44 different markets, 650 million customers visited IKEA markets in 2016 and IKEA also has a very high consumer trust. We share the same environmental, sustainable and health agenda as IKEA and are excited to join the IKEA accelerator”.
If they succeed in the start-up accelerator, we might see the signature IKEA meatballs made with insects. That would be simply amazing!
Kids crunch down on the food of the future
A team of renowned chefs and scientists from across North America were showing kids at the Brooklyn Bugs festival that eating insects can be cool.
"Younger generations are leaving behind many of their cultures' food traditions, but by reintroducing eating bugs here in America and in Europe, we can say, 'Your grandmother was right: bugs are delicious.' We can instil a lot of pride just by sharing this information."
"Eating insects is so stigmatized," they say. "It's thought of as barbaric. But our grandparents in the United States once thought sushi was disgusting. This movement is just getting started. It's a fledgling industry."
We couldn’t agree more, insects can be the next sushi. And we are on the right tracks to get it there!
Taste of the West Awards Cornish winners include Edible Insects
Cornish mealworms were the surprise winners at this year's the Taste of the West Awards as Edible Insects scooped the prize for Best Food and Drink Innovation.
Fred McVittie of Cornish Edible Insects, who won Taste of the West’s new innovation award: "We are selling insects - and products containing insects,” he said. “Our falafel contains crickets and meal-worms - and we won a gold award in the faggots and burgers category for that. This is our third year - and insects are far less novelty now."
It’s so great to hear that insects are not a novelty anymore. We want them to be a part of our diet, not something exotic.
Help us spread the word. Be a part of the change. Try our cricket-based bars!
