Luisa, has managed to convince me, with the use of facts, humour, and examples, she makes a strong case for something which most of us would consider absurd, but don't let me tell you... read for yourself. Or read more of Luisa's work on her blog gbsluisam.blogspot.co.nz
WALT: Create an argument with a point of view (P.O.V) and reasons for or against.
SC: Use evidence for or against the topic to create an argument.
I know what you would be thinking, "Gross Insects".? You would be very surprised to see the good side of eating insects and maybe you would consider insects in you healthy diet. Well its up to me to convince you to join my side but before you carry on reading let me tell you a joke. What is a insects favourite sport? Cricket.
People should include insects in their healthy diet.
In my opinion I agree with the statement and that we should consider eating insects in our healthy diet because insects are very nutritious, raising insects is free and sometimes we don’t know it but we automatically eat food that contain insects in them.
Firstly, Eating insects are not as bad as you think, insects are actually very healthy and environmentally friendly. They have highly more protein, fiber and nutrients like iron and zinc than beef and chicken. We need iron, protein and fibre to keep ourselves healthy. Insects are no different to their relatives shrimp, crabs and lobsters. 2 billion people currently eat insects like tarantulas s or toasted grasshoppers. Plus the after tastes of some insects taste like normal food that we eat every day. Like as some people say “Crickets taste like potato chips” or “Scorpions taste like popcorn”. So what do you think about flavoured insects.?
Also insects have less fat and fewer calories than a piece of chicken, beef or pork. If you compare a piece of beef to a cricket, a cricket has more protein, vitamins and minerals then a piece of beef which only has protein. Plus insects are more edible and digestible. For example we can only eat 40% meat of a cow, 50% meat of a chicken but only 80% of a cricket. So when you eat a cow or chicken you're actually wasting the other parts of the animal unlike insects. There are at least 2,000 edible insects in the world and when people eat them it's called Entomophagy.
Unbelievably, in other countries like Mexico and Cambodia it is very normal to cook and eat insects. Turns out insects are part of their traditional food. Some people would mix insects in cookie mixtures or make grasshopper kebabs. So the message here is that some countries find eating insects completely normal. Insects are slowly starting to appear in Western(Countries like NZ or Aus) menus but most people are still squeamish around cooked insects.
Secondly, raising insects are much more cheaper and free than harvesting cows or chickens. To produce 1kg of beef it takes 22000 liters of water. To produce 1kg of pork it takes 3200 liters of water. But to make 1 kilo gram of a cricket only takes 1 liter of water. Which is because most insects keep hydrated by the food they eat.
Harvesting insects are more efficient for third world countries who find it hard to look for food. To raise insects we use less technology or investments unless they are needed. To grow a piece of meat it takes 200 square meters of land and to grow 1 pound of crickets it takes 15 square meters of land. With all insects that are free its is much easier to hunt and catch them.
Some believe that eating insects are our future food. Higher food prices develop as the years go by, which some people are not able to afford. So we should start to consider insects in our daily food choices because insects are cheap and free. Plus even though I haven't eaten insects I wouldn’t doubt that they are disgusting but I think that they would taste delicious. Nothing wrong with taking one step in my food choices.
Finally, people may not know it or believe it but most of the food we are eating are contained with insects. Food like fruit canned sodas, peanut butter and chocolate. Shocking right, and I eat chocolate all the time. But I guess healthy insects in junk food makes junk food healthy-I doubt it. Also in every 100 grams of spinach there are at least 50 insects in the spinach. In peanut butter, they only allow 30 body parts of a insects such as heads, bodies or legs.
Now I will be talking about insect food made by some of the famous chefs. For Entree we got Crispy grasshoppers or known as Chapulines which are very famous insects in Mexico but normally people call Chapulines crispy bacon. Now for main is the deep fried tarantulas, deep fried tarantulas are put into tempura batter and then fried in hot oil. Last but not least to finish our meal I have desert Grasshopper almond flour cake, with square pineapples with coco loco ice cream with a touch of grasshopper on the pineapples. I would like to have some tasty fried tarantula, How about you.?
Last but not least insects are more available than any food products. Once all our food products sell out, insects would be all we got along with other animal meat. But I think if we have to choose between meat and insects I guarantee insects would have a better healthier chance than meat because there are enough insects for everyone to share and insects have been around longer than expected.
Including insects in our healthy diet is important because insects are unbelievably healthy, raising insects are more efficient and eating insects are already part of our natural life. But the important question is, Would you eat insects?, I know I would.
