WATCH: Video of students at Denver Language School as they try cookies made with cricket flour
The movement to persuade Americans to reduce beef in their diet by eating bugs — “micro livestock” — is gaining momentum ahead of a global meat forum, as seen recently in a Denver Public Schools classroom.
Nearly all the 10-year-olds at a presentation by insects-as-food advocate Wendy Lu McGill nibbled her M&M-adorned cookies made of pulverized crickets.
Then the Denver Language School students ate whole roasted crickets. None, however, would try worms.
And one student, Laynie Whittington, refused any of this alimentary experimentation.
“I do not want to be eating bugs,” she said. “I’m half vegan, so I’m saying meat is sort of OK. But bugs? Not.”
That’s the disgust factor dogging McGill and other prophets of alternative protein who, in classes and seminars, encourage an opening of minds. They are motivated to ease the impact of large livestock on the environment as the world population grows to a projected 9 billion by 2050.
For years, McGill has targeted mostly adults in Denver, where food supply and sustainability are rising concerns. Her locust snacks, Hopper bars and crickets attracted hundreds, including vegetarians, at the Denver County Fair on the grounds of the National Western Stock Show.
But reaching children is crucial, McGill said, after her first DPS venture. She is planning after-school programs at rec centers.
“They’re forming their habits now,” she said. “Whether or not they choose to eat insects, it’s important to me that they think about how their food affects the planet.”
Bug-eating advocates contend 2 billion people outside the United States already eat insects, such as Mexicans who savor escamoles, or ant “caviar.” Insects are packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. And, compared with cows and other large livestock, insects raised on an industrial scale require far less land and water and emit less heat-trapping gas.
The production of food-grade bugs is increasing at Little Herds in Texas and Tiny Farms in California. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration continues to regulate fly, maggot, worm and other insect material in foods.
United Nations officials, focused on the 1 billion chronically hungry people and exploding global demand for meat, promote the use of insects as food for humans and animals. The U.N. has identified 1,900 edible insects and maintains an information portal.
“Current food production will need to almost double. Land is scarce, and expanding the area devoted to farming is rarely a viable or sustainable option. Oceans are overfished, and climate change and related water shortages could have profound implications for food production,” a 2013 U.N. report concluded. “What we eat and how we produce it needs to be re-evaluated. … We need to find new ways of growing food.”
Yet, the report acknowledged, “there’s a degree of distaste” about eating bugs.
This summer in Denver, Slow Food USA plans to explore insects as food during a Slow Meat Symposium, set for June 4-6. Slow Food, with branches in 200 countries including 140 chapters in Denver and other U.S. cities, celebrates food while advocating production that doesn’t desecrate land and water.
Expect cricket pizza and other snacks during private forums for 300 or so delegates and weekend public events.
Food “shouldn’t just be an unpalatable pile of nutrients,” said Megan Larmer, Slow Food USA’s associate director of strategic initiatives. “But we’re extracting ridiculous costs from the earth. Meat is a big reason why. There’s a better way forward. Many cultures value insects as an integral part of their cuisine.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700, bfinley@denverpost.com or twitter.com/finleybruce
