2.5 billion people already eat insects, mostly in the Greater South. For example, in the Congo, the average household in Kinshasa eats over 300 grams of caterpillars per week. In the Central African Republic, the average person eats about 42 caterpillars a day during the rainy season. In Asia, between 150 and 200 species of insects are regularly eaten. For example, about 80 different types of insects are eaten in Thailand. The red palm beetle is so popular that it is considered a delicacy throughout the Asian continent.
In Mexico, local farmers look for red and white agave larvae to cook - usually the insects are fried and seasoned and then served on a tortilla with a spicy sauce. By the way, Mexico is one of the leading countries with the largest variety of edible insects on the planet, with over 300 different species.
In fact, you already eat over 0.5 kilograms of insects every year without even knowing it. They are naturally present in juices, fruits, vegetables, and food coloring E120, made from cochineal, which gives the red color to many foods.
According to recent studies, there are more than 1900 edible insects, but the most famous of them are Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, etc.), as well as beetle larvae (worms, weevils, etc.), Hymenoptera (ants, bee larvae ... ). As with any animal product, the growing conditions and processing of the product will determine the quality of the insects. Today, protein powder and its various variations are primarily produced from insects: snacks, flour and various pastries, ice cream, smoothies and other alternatives to dairy products, and, of course, eaten in their original form - for example, fried crickets are quite popular. The shelf life of insects is usually 8-12 months.