Scientific American: What's Stopping Us From Eating Insects

Anthropologist Krystal D'Costa published an article in Scientific American analyzing the culture and customs that prevent us from eating insects. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has also previously stated that family members of the insect community, such as locusts and ants, are underutilized food sources. D'Costa said that in non-Western cultures, insects are important sources of food because they can provide protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. In places where people often eat insects, they can distinguish between good insects and bad ones and recognize seasonal differences in arthropod food choices.

However, with the spread and penetration of Western ideas and culture, people gradually abandon the choice of insects as food. In Mali, West Africa, grasshoppers are an important source of protein, but when families have more surplus grain and pesticides are used on farmland, parents begin to actively prevent their children from eating grasshoppers, which means they lose an important source of protein.