Argument- Eating Insects!

There are many benefits to eating insects. I know what your thinking, that's disgusting, but if you think eating them on purpose is gross your up for a treat. Did you know that you already eat 500 grams a year without even realizing it. You could be eating more if you looked past your disgust for the six legged creatures. 80% of the worlds population already eats bugs. In fact, in some countries they are considered delicacies. I mean, why not eat bugs? According to the TED talk by Marcel Dicke, they help us by giving us protein and being another source of food, keeping us away from diseases caused by eating livestock, and so much more.

Before I get started, your probably wondering where that 500 grams of bugs that you eat come from. Any processed foods contain bugs in some way. Chocolate has 60 insect components per 100 grams, peanut butter has 30 insect parts per 100 grams, fruit juice that comes in a can has about 5 fruit fly eggs or 1-2 larvae per 250ml, wheat flower has 75 insect parts per 50 grams, and noodles have about 1insect parts per gram. Even natural dyes get their color from bugs. How do you feel about eating them now, after learning that you have been eating them for your whole life!?

Bugs have also been helping us behind the scenes. For free they remove dung, pollinate our crops, control pests, and are food for all animals, including us, because they are at the bottom of the food chain. Not only this, but they are a good source of protein. 1kg of grass hopers are the equivalent of 10 hotdogs or 6 burgers. Although a bug doesn't have as much protein as a hot dog or burger, there are more of them than pigs or cows. Right now, a lot of developed countries get their main source of protein from livestock, fish, and game - eating 80kg per person per year. In developing countries 25kg per person per year of these three sources of protein are eaten. However, there are more risks to eating livestock, fish, and game. For example, we can share diseases by eating these sources of proteins. On the other hand, we can't share hardly any diseases with insects by eating them. 

There are other problems to eating livestock, fish, and game. At the moment the world has 7 billion people, by 2050 there is estimated to be 9 billion people. As the population grows there will need to be more food, and there is not going to be enough livestock, fish, and game to feed all 9 billion people. We are going to need another source of protein. There are billions of insects, making them one of our only options for protein. So eventually, whether you like them or not, you might have to eat them!

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