A diet is something extremely personal and can define who the person is. It seems that recently people have become really disconnected from their food – not thinking about where it came from or what it is doing to their wellbeing. Food is one of the greatest variables in our health and it is important for people to reconnect with their food, to have the right to know where it comes from and to be able to choose what they put in their bodies.
When it comes to the ethics of eating insects, Josh strongly believes that there are correct ways to do it. After pointing out that since insects don’t have a central nervous system, it is hard to prove that they are able to feel pain. In addition to this, farmed insects are ethically “put to sleep” usually by placing them on ice or in large freezers where they simply go to sleep and freeze, supposedly painlessly.
“There is less argument about the moral virtue of eating insects than there actually can be about eating commercially grown vegetables plants are also shown to respond with “feelings” to music or anger, but the biggest issue is that harvesting vegetables and grains actually kills innumerable small animals like field mice, bunnies, birds and reptiles.”
There is still so much that we don’t know about insects and are just now beginning to explore. Are there cures for diseases in entomophagy? Are there bugs that are high in antioxidants? Are there superfood insects? Is there an insect with a fast life-cycle that is the perfect nutritional profile for humans?
“Entomophagy just about acceptance,” Josh concludes. “100 years ago, lobster was the food of poor people and prisoners. Now it’s eaten by Jay-Z and Beyoncé paired with $1,000 bottles of bubbly. Insects are far more sustainable than lobster, and arguably even more nutritious.”