A few weeks ago, I posed some simple yet pointed questions to peers and classmates: would they consider eating bugs as an alternative protein form in their diets. And, if they would not, what it would take to change their minds?

The biggest obstacle facing insect consumption in the Western world, as mentioned in a post two weeks ago,
is the stigma about insects themselves.

Of 21 surveyed participants, eight said they would consider eating bugs as an alternative. But that 38% statistic may be inflated. Of those who would consider eating bugs, they added that some cooking preparation would be necessary in order to make the bugs more aesthetically pleasing.

CJ Anderson, 21, of Chicago said he would need “some way to make them tastier. Perhaps deep-frying them with shit tons of butter, spices, etc.”

On the other hand, for Brenna Walton, 30, texture is key. Insects “would have to taste good. I would be more likely to eat something crunchy, like a cricket, as opposed to something chewy or mushy, like a worm. Texture is a big factor.”

For others though, insect consumption depended on larger, catastrophic downfalls in the food industry.

Mike Freund, a 20-year old from Arkansas, said he would consider eating bugs, but it would take “mass extinctions of cows, chicken, pigs, turkey, and deer” for him to come around to eating meal-worms and crickets.

For Jordan Epstein, 21, it would take an apocalypse: “Starvation/depletion of meats sold in grocery stores. Apocalypse.”

Of course, deep-frying insects in “shit-tons of butter” defeats the point of eating insects in the first place; regardless, the nutritional value of insects has been an increasingly hot topic. Food prices continue to increase, and so does population. And, throughout history, according to a Marcel Dicke lecture, as a middle class burgeons, people demand more meat in their diets.

This was most evident in post-war 1940-50’s America. As babies boomed, so did the economy, and Americans craved meat – cheap meat, and lots of it. The economic machine responded with the advent of the fast food industry that satiated the American palate and spawned the beef industry.

The fast food industry provides multitudes with meat, but is by no means a progressive alternative to eating.

Eighty percent of the world’s population consumes bugs on a regular basis. Humans eat up to 1000 types of insects everyday, yet America and Western Europe continue to view bug-eating as taboo.