Edible Bug Sales Projected to Spike the Same Year in Which You Will Own Nothing and Be Happy

I spend a pretty penny to ensure all visible bugs are removed from my home using environmentally friendly products. It would vex me greatly if I ever found them in my pantry, kitchen cabinets, or refrigerator. Yet there is a never-ending push from the media to soften me up to the idea I should eat bugs. The latest installment comes from the Washington Post, and I remain unconvinced.

First, the article describes a young girl popping a mealworm in her mouth at an event to encourage entomophagy or eating bugs. Reportedly, six-year-old Adaline Welk exclaimed, “It’s not that bad! It kind of tastes like kettle corn!” It is unclear whether she was referring to the crunch or the flavor, but I would have to bet on the former.

The event was run by a woman named Lisa Sanchez, who taught people how to eat bugs for 25 years. Apparently, I am not the only one who remains unconvinced since Lancaster County, Penn., where she works, is not known as a bug-eating mecca. Still, Sanchez presses on:

Sanchez encourages people to eat insects, in part, to lighten environmental footprints. Farmed insects produce far less greenhouse gas and require much less land and water than conventional livestock. Insects also generate more biomass with less input. Crickets, for example, are 12 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into edible weight.

Already, 2 billion people eat insects, according to one estimate — primarily in parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The practice dates back millennia. “I always thought, even back in the ’90s, someday, maybe, [Americans] will do this,” Sanchez says.

Does it ever occur to these people that it is very likely people on this continent ate bugs at one point? Then we made progress and stopped? The practice dates back millennia and remains in third-world countries because they are poor and not because these people would not prefer a hamburger. The push by Malthusian environmentalists to return to pre-industrial, and, in this case, pre-agrarian culture, is insane.

One might assume that the fierce resistance to the idea in many societies would put the issue to rest outside of some trendy neighborhoods full of limousine liberals who will eat ants to make up for flying private to Aspen. The Post essentially admits you are being barraged with the idea of breaking down your resistance:

The edible insect industry is ramping up — one report predicts the market will reach $9.6 billion by 2030. Consumers can already find foods like salted ants on Amazon and cricket powder protein bars in Swiss grocery stores. Recent years have seen numerous media stories extolling the virtues of insect-eating.

Does anyone else wonder why the elites are obsessed with 2030? According to the World Economic Forum, that is the year you will own nothing and be happy. Of course, that could explain why the edible insect industry will boom. It is all that will be available because every nation will slash their livestock production like the Netherlands just did to go to war with the periodic table. It is not just carbon they are battling. Now it is nitrogen, too, so the chickens have got to go.

For now, when you follow the link to Amazon and discover something that could make you more resistant to the idea. A company called ecoEat will sell you 10 grams of Weaver ants for $13.99. That means a bag of ANTS costs $39.67 an OUNCE. Hurry because there are only five left in stock. If you miss them, you could choose a $9.99 15-gram bag of mixed bugs from Erbies. The ad calls the seasoned and crunchy mix of crickets, grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, and sago worms a “fun gift idea.” I think coal sounds like a better stocking stuffer. And more practical amid the looming energy shortages.

By way of comparison, I can go to my local Ingles and get Porterhouse steak for $8.48 a POUND this week. Decisions, decisions. Just kidding. I’ll have the beef and double the carbon insult by smoking and reverse-searing it because I can. And my conscience is clear since I won’t be flying private anytime soon.

The people who want to make you eat bugs are determined to find a way to do it. They have learned that if you can’t see the bugs, you will eat them. That doesn’t seem very ethical and not something someone wants to try with me. Further, bugs are a no-go if you are allergic to crustaceans. I feel a massive shrimp allergy coming on.

According to the article:

“Telling people that they should eat more insects because it’s good for them and/or good for the planet doesn’t seem to have much effect on behavior,” says experimental psychologist and gastrophysicist Charles Spence of the University of Oxford in England.

In a 2022 study, his team instead tested a tried-and-true marketing strategy: the celebrity endorsement. Researchers presented fictional ads for insect-based foods to more than 1,000 people based in the United States. Volunteers who saw ads picturing athletes such as Serena Williams and Roger Federer or actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Angelina Jolie said they were more willing to try the product than those who saw ads without celebrities.

You get it, right? They show doctored pictures of famous people eating bugs, and some number of lemmings are more willing to do it. These are the same people that voted for Hillary Clinton because Katy Perry told them to. I am with Leona Welk, Adaline’s eight-year-old sister.

Leona watched as family members tried the insects. The program was about to wrap up when she finally marched over to the demo table, reached for a mealworm, and ate it. “It didn’t taste like anything,” she shrugged. “I’m still not putting them on my ice cream.”

Neither am I, Leona. Neither am I.