Lobster used to be considered disgusting and sushi only a food for the poor. How did they become gourmet specialities and sought after foods available in the best restaurants around the world? Let’s take a trip back in history. Maybe we will learn how insects can follow a similar path. If not delicacy, we will make sure insects become a normal part of our diet one day too.
Lobster was considered an insect of the sea
Walk into any fancy restaurant in the western world and you can be sure to find lobster among the most expensive items on the menu. But it wasn’t always that way. Lobsters were extremely abundant in North America in 1700s. That’s why during hard times they got a bad reputation as the poor man’s protein and became animal feed and prison food.
“It was actually the rise of seasonal tourism in the 1870s—wherein the well-to-do from New York and Washington would retreat to Boston from the region's oppressive heat and humidity that lobster began becoming a sought after item. Visitors, upon returning home from their vacations, would find themselves still craving Boston baked beans and boiled lobster. And, more importantly, willing to pay handsomely to get more.” Andrew Tarantola
Sushi was a packaging method
Sushi has a very interesting history, it was invented in the 2nd century as a method to preserve cured fish, reducing the chances of it going off and making people sick. Rice wasn’t even eaten back then; it was a cheap piece of packaging. In the 17th century, the Japanese began to use vinegar with the rice, which made it edible. This made sushi portable, cheap, and good to eat. It was after the World War II that the finest cuts of raw, not cured, fish were used to achieve delicate taste. Nowadays, sushi is absolutely everywhere and the authentic stuff doesn’t come cheap.
Insects are the next big delicacy
It is funny how food elevates, lobster and sushi were foods of the poor and now they are delicacies. All it takes is a change in the way they are served and viewed by society. It’s pretty clear that perception of food groups does change over time and we believe insect are next in line.
Try our tasty insect-based bars, get a head start!
