Now, three developing countries on three different continents are promoting insects as food for humans. Costa Rica, Benin and Bhutan want top quality restaurants to start putting larva and tarantula spiders on the menu. The Netherlands is paying the bill for the project.

Why should a shrimp be tastier than a beetle? Why are worms only considered to be edible in extreme situations? Experts say it is simply a matter of culture and psychology.

Biodiversity

Costa Rica’s National Institute for Biodiversity, INBío, is taking part in a study into the consumption of insects. The two other countries involved are Benin in Africa and Bhutan in Asia.

The study is focusing on edible products from forests and jungles, such as insects and toadstools. Benin has a great deal expertise in the consumption of insects. Bhutan is a country where people know a lot about toadstools. Costa Rica is contributing its knowledge on biodiversity.

Entomologist Manuel Zumbado, head of the project at INBío, talks about the Netherlands’ role:

“I don’t know all the details, but the Netherlands is financing the project and has left the organisation to the other three countries.”

Beetle larva on a skewer

Experts from Costa Rica travelled to Benin for the project. Here they found that eating locusts, crickets, termites, beetle larva and butterfly larva is the most normal thing in the world.

Beetle larva can be found in the leaves of palm trees. In Benin, people use the same leaves to make wine. When a palm tree dies, it becomes infested with beetles. Manuel Zumbado tasted beetle larva on a skewer, and explains how the larva are prepared:

“… Just like shrimps. Some people fry them, others roast them on a fire. They skewer them with a bit of onion. Then they are placed on a banana tree leaf with a delicious spicy sauce.”

He stresses that insects have a high nutritional value: are low on fat and cholesterol, have high-quality protein as well as trace elements and vitamins. Compared to what many people usually eat - beef, pork, chicken or fish – they are much more nutritious.

The Costa Rican researchers say it is just a matter of habit:

“People think you mean putting a raw cockroach in your mouth when you talk about eating insects. (…) but that isn’t what it is about. We don’t eat chickens with feathers and all. It’s the preparation, presentation and information that matters.”

The consumption of insects is often associated with survival in extreme conditions. This is why INBío wants to promote eating insects in top-end restaurants. Once people stop seeing it as something cheap, they will find it more attractive.

In some Latin American countries it’s fairly normal to eat insects. Eating grasshoppers is, for example, quite common in Mexico is common. In Colombia, people eat ants in the same way people eat peanuts in the Netherlands.

Tarantulas

In Venezuela, the Yanomami people are known to eat theraposa leblondi, the world’s largest tarantula.

Argentina also has edible insects with a high nutritious value, but insects are not a delicacy there yet.
 
It is generally accepted that there are around 1,500 edible insects throughout the world. But experts warn people to be careful: some species are very poisonous.

Beatriz Díez Hernando
Radio Netherlands