Low Cost Meals for the World

It was quite an amusing story some years later but at the time it must have been traumatic and concerning.

It involved a van load of friends going down country for one of the big open air music festivals.

A rather overloaded van in the days before rear passenger seat belts. Everyone was loosely arranged in the back amongst the camping gear and personal baggage. In the atmosphere of euphoria and excitement over the trip some semblance of common sense was easily overlooked.

Nominated drivers took a turn in handling what was a very heavy and cumbersome vehicle, some with more experience than others. The inevitable happened and on a sharp bend on a minor road not too far from the festival site the van careered into a ditch in a moment of lack of attention by the duty driver.

All aboard suffered bruises and abrasions and were understandably shaken and in shock. The driver was the only mobile member of the group and in staggering up the slope to summon help from passers-by he had the misfortune of swallowing a bee.

Ironically the victim of the insect was the only person to require a stay in hospital following some degree of swelling from an allergic reaction.

That brings me nicely to avail you with the rather disturbing fact that we each consume, albeit unknown and accidentally, about 500 grams of insects per year.

Many will be thinking what?, When?, Where?, How? in having no recollection of ever having eaten an insect.

That may not be strictly true as I doubt that for one thing anyone riding a bike has not inhaled and consumed a flying bug.

There is of course that terrifying prospect of swallowing a spider whilst asleep or an army of ants entering your brain through an easily accessible orifice if you happen to doze off in the great outdoors.

I have had the uncomfortable experience of walking through a dense cloud of swarming midges and gnats and finding a good proportion of them on my teeth but representing themselves only a small percentage of those I have actually eaten unwillingly.

The annual consumption figure does, I admit, seem a bit high and therefore open to argument as to its accuracy.

The figure has been arrived at by Food Standards people who must be in the know.

Harvesting of crops from grains to fruits can be a reasonably technical process with quite sophisticated machines designed to maximise yield and minimise collateral material in the system. However, an ear of corn and the stone of a peach, for example, can also provide shelter and sustenance for all manner of insects and these are caught up in the gathering-in stage out in the field or orchard.

Filtering can remove a proportion of bugs and creepie-crawlies but the Food Standards people make allowances for persistent occupation by such creatures. A permissible level for parts of insects per volume of foodstuffs has been set and it is consumption of this disguised residue in our corn flakes, fruit juices and tomato ketchup that accounts for the level of intake.

I can appreciate that a few of you may have that deep down wretching sensation at this very moment. Get used to it because insects as a staple food for a good proportion of the World Population is a very real prospect and within the very foreseeable future.

There is already speculation that the combination of global warming and population explosion will, in some nations, mean that resources to sustain meat production for human dietary requirements are not sustainable.

Genetically Modified foods whilst ethically shunned will have to be ramped up in use if we are to provide for our kind.

We will also have to seriously consider alternative foodstuffs , hopefully not to the extreme of Soylent Green, but certainly involving the farming, harvesting and processing of insects.

Certain species have high natural protein and are rich in the constituents which could contribute to a healthy diet. We are not unfamiliar with feasts of insects through high profile TV reality shows such as "I'm a Celebrity" and indeed in a Poll carried out by a research company it appears that 30% of those interviewed said that they would be prepared to give it a go. In terms of public opinion that could be seen as a green light to go ahead with a menu for change. Come to think of it they used to serve, at school dinners, something we referred to as Fly Pie.