(432) Can edible insect foods save hunger in the world?

Can edible insect foods save hunger in the world?

Do you know of bamboo caterpillars snack1) in Thailand? The ready-to-eat (cooked) bamboo caterpillars are packed in plastic boxes. The bamboo caterpillars are deep-fried beforehand. Bamboo caterpillar is one of edible insect foods. Insect foods are called future foods, but haven’t become world major food yet. So nobody believes insect foods will save starving millions in the world as substitute for wheat or rice.

But wait a minute, is it true? I browsed through a book named ‘Feeding the ten billion / Plants and population growth’ 2) published in 1998. I found an expression in the book, like ‘Concerning food, the biggest error has been to see hunger as problem of total production.’ And another one is ‘ The first cause of hunger and malnutrition is poverty.’ And the first cause of poverty is lack of work. Here, I want to say that insect foods might solve the problem of poverty. Insect foods business might advance agricultural development in regions where poverty is mostly rural. This business might give work to the poor people.

But the poor people can’t get good jobs so easily. In Japan there is a saying, ‘We cannot do any good job on an empty stomach’. And Mahatma Gandhi once stated “To the poor man God dare not appear except in the form of bread and the promise of work.” And one more, is the ability to work requires one to be sufficiently fed, healthy and educated to perform adequately. While I was searching for the real causes of hunger, I went around and back to lack of food. There is a vicious circle here;

Hunger (Lack of food) à Poverty à Lack of work à Lack of food and education

Looking for cheep nutritious insect foods might cut this circle. If they found the foods, the poor people can eat them, and also start the business with the insect foods. Insect foods seem to have possibility to save hunger in the world.

This Bamboo caterpillars cup made me think of several things. There are several ultimate questions to solve. Why is the history of hunger embedded in the history of plenty? Why cannot we educate people to do an even distribution of food with less waste? How many people can the earth support? We need real cooperation of all human beings to solve foods problems. World population keeps on increasing every minute. Don’t forget this. 

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1) Bamboo CATERPILLAR
www.urai-insectfoods.com/ Insect foods, Future food by Mea U-Rai

2)Feeding the ten billion / Plants and population growth 
ⓒL.T. Evans 1998, First published 1998,
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambriudge
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