Entomophagy in humans
Entomophagy in humans or human entomophagy describes the consumption of insects (entomophagy) by humans in a cultural and biological context. The scientific term used in anthropology, cultural studies, biology and medicine is anthropo-entomophagy.[1][2] Anthropo-entomophagy does not include the eating of arthropods other than insects such as arachnids and myriapods, which is defined as arachnophagy.
For insects as food items, see Insects as food.
Entomophagy is scientifically documented as widespread among non-human primates and common among many human communities.[3] The eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of certain insects have been eaten by humans from prehistoric times to the present day.[4] Around 3,000 ethnic groups practice entomophagy.[5] Human insect-eating is common to cultures in most parts of the world, including Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Eighty percent of the world's nations eat insects of 1,000 to 2,000 species.[6][7] FAO has registered some 1,900 edible insect species and estimates that there were, in 2005, around two billion insect consumers worldwide. FAO suggests eating insects as a possible solution to environmental degradation caused by livestock production.[8]
In some societies, primarily western nations, entomophagy is uncommon or taboo.[9][10][11][12][13][14] While insect eating is uncommon in North America and Europe, insects remain a popular food elsewhere, and some companies are trying to introduce insects as food into Western diets.[15][16][17]
Insects eaten around the world include crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, ants, various beetle grubs (such as mealworms, the larvae of the darkling beetle),[18] and various species of caterpillar (such as bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms and waxworms).
Rejection and cultural taboo[edit]
Within Western culture, entomophagy (barring some food additives, such as carmine and shellac) is seen as taboo.[67] The disgust associated with the taboo is used in Western media. For example, a scene in the 1962 Italian film Mondo Cane features an insect banquet for shock effect, and a scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) features insects as part of a similar banquet for shock factor. Western avoidance of entomophagy coexists with the consumption of other invertebrates such as molluscs and the insects' close arthropod relatives crustaceans, and is not based on taste or food value.[67]
The Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence is the only tradition that allows the consumption of all insects (provided that they are not harmful to one's health). Some schools consider scorpions haram, but eating locusts as halal. Others prohibit all animals that creep, including insects.[68][69]
Within Judaism, most insects are not considered kosher, with the disputed exception of a few species of "kosher locust" which are accepted by certain communities.[70]
Public health nutritionist Alan Dangour has argued that large-scale entomophagy in Western culture faces "extremely large" barriers, which are "perhaps currently even likely to be insurmountable."[71] There is widespread disgust at entomophagy in the West, the image of insects being "unclean and disease-carrying".[72] The anthropologist Marvin Harris has suggested that the eating of insects is taboo in cultures that have other protein sources which require more work to obtain, such as poultry or cattle, though there are cultures which feature both animal husbandry and entomophagy. Examples can be found in Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe where strong cattle-raising traditions co-exist with entomophagy of insects like the mopane worm. In addition, people in cultures where entomophagy is common are not indiscriminate in their choice of insects, as Thai consumers of insects perceive edible insects not consumed within their culture in a similar way as Western consumers.[73]
Promotion[edit]
The U.S. Food and Agriculture Organization has displayed an interest in developing entomophagy on multiple occasions. In 2008, the FAO organized a conference to "discuss the potential for developing insects in the Asia and Pacific region."[74] According to Durst, FAO efforts in entomophagy will focus on regions in which entomophagy has been historically accepted but has recently experienced a decline in popularity.
In 2011, the European Commission issued a request for reports on the current use of insects as food, with the promise that reports from each European Union member state would serve to inform legislative proposals for the new process for insect foods.[75] According to NPR, the European Union is investing more than 4 million dollars to research entomophagy as a human protein source.[76]