Eating crickets was disgusting…until now

by Kristen Troy

Are you an environmental advocate or a food adventurer? If you are, continue reading to find out about a new craze on the market that is growing in popularity. Its increasing popularity is due to its out-of-the-box approach to environmental sustainability, decreased food waste, and a substantial nutrient content. What’s this new craze? Crickets!

Crickets have been eaten in Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico for years as traditional cuisine. In these areas, crickets are typically deep-fried and eaten as a snack. The cricket trend has migrated to the United States in the form of cricket flour products.

Making the cricket into flour allows for the nutrients to be consumed while masking the fact that you’re eating a bug. The cricket flour can be used in place of your regular flour, in dessert mixes, in tortilla chips, in pasta, and even in protein powder! With the growing market, there may be even more cricket products for purchase in the coming years.

Benefits

Eating cricket flour products can be a good way to consume protein. It can also be a good way to try to get some other nutrients as well. For every 100g of cricket, there are:

121 calories
12.9 grams of protein
5.5 grams of fat
5.1 grams of carbohydrates
75.8 mg calcium
185.3 mg of phosphorous
9.5 mg of iron
.36 mg of thiamin
1.09 mg of riboflavin
3.10 mg of niacin
.05% fat.

The benefits don’t end with nutrition – crickets are also sustainable. Crickets take less water and space to raise and give off less methane. By eating crickets in place of meat proteins on occasion, you could help the environment and your body.

According to the FAO, crickets are twelve times more efficient than cattle in converting feed to edible meat, four times more efficient than pigs, and twice as efficient as chickens. Efficiently converting feed to meat isn’t their only positive trait; they also thrive in compact living situations, do not require much water, and are harvested by a humane freezing method.

Cricket Products

Try cricket products today to help the environment, consume nutrients, and get in touch with your adventurous side. Check out the companies below that offer cricket flour products:

Bugsolutely

Cricket pasta: 12.3oz package

Cricket Flours

All-purpose baking cricket flour
Cricket flours: pure powder
Cricket flours brownie mix
Cricket salt
- Himalayan Pink
- Spicy Desert Heat
- Cajun Spice
Roasted crickets
- Spicy Cayenne
- Hickory Smoked Bacon
- Cheesy Ranch
- Buffalo Wing Sauce
- Roasted Original