Researchers at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, have recently published a study in PLoS ONE that suggests eating mealworms might be an ecologically sound wave of the future. The scientists compared the environment impact of using the beetle larvae as a food source vs. meat, poultry and dairy.
The study concluded: “Production of one kg of edible protein from milk, chicken, pork or beef result in higher greenhouse gas emissions, require similar amounts of energy and require much more land. This study demonstrates that mealworms should be considered a more sustainable source of edible protein.”
One hopes that mealworms will be transformed into some version of, well, meal vs. something that looks like a bug-infested cracker. (Warning: Don’t click on this if you are snacking at your computer.) Given that it’s a protein, it’s probably a shoo-in for gluten-free or mystery-meat applications. But I’m sure our creative R&D community can come up with many uses.
One problem though. Remember the hue and cry over cochineal in Starbucks drinks? Something tells me that unless all other popular source of edible protein became cost prohibitive, bug protein is not going to be a big market hit.
The study did leave one important question unanswered: What do mealworms taste like? After all, research repeatedly says taste is the consumer’s No. 1 requirement. A number of comments in the NPR Salt blog mention that bugs are tasty and/or crunchy. But can we say “it tastes like chicken”?
