"People have a reticence to eating insects, it's like a mental allergy. But they offer delicious flavours. They're a solution to so many problems. They don't need tractors or irrigation. Just people willing to give them a try."
– Escamol (Ant larvae) Entrepreneur, Armando Soria
Why Did I Write This:
This essay holds dear to my heart and I honestly treat this like a baby Thesis. You know when you’re writing about something you’re so passionate about, all the words and ideas flow like a river and your fingers are typing so fast it’s like they’re on fire? That’s how I felt when I wrote this.
Not only does this dive into my consistent passion on sustainable food systems, it is one that touches on an often controversial topic. It is interesting that over 80% of the world eat insects, and yet it is only recently that the Global North is starting to recognize it as a “trendy” sustainable source of food. However, there is still a hesitancy, or often, terror towards
consuming an insect.
Why Insects?
Personally, I tried a grasshopper in China when I was younger. I encountered this concept again in LSE with the Sustainable Futures Society as we were advocating for sustainable foods. Although if it weren’t for that initial grasshopper and my conscious decision to push for a sustainable lifestyle, my adverse associations with insects would have diverted me away immediately.
So I wondered, what would it take for people to start eating insects? Can the “trend” of it be enough?
Hence, it is also an investigation into the mind: how much of what we eat depends on our conscious choice? How much of that choice is dependent on our context, culture, background? Are we actively making those decisions or passively passing them on?
As such, it was opportune that I was going to Mexico for an International Studies Trip and could not only learn about the country's culture through its food and insect consumption, but also answer these questions and provide a framework into the way we make decisions in our lives.
Through food, I understand why some are willing to try new things
Through food, I understand why some stick to familiarity and comfort
Through food, I understand why some simply eat or do things for sustenance and survival
Through food, I understand why some find it a gateway to social community
Through food, I understand why some associate feelings and memory
Through food, I understand why some choose to eat or not eat certain things
And me?
Through food, I try to be conscious about others and those who cooked and prepared it.
Through food, I find comfort.
Through food, I try to be conscious about my health and environmental impacts.
Through food, I try to be as open to as many new opportunities as possible – whether it be cultures, relationships, personal thoughts, or a vision into the future.
I found that:
“Eating is personal and individual and people define what they consider food and what is not throughout their lifestyles. While culinary identities can be shaped by time and space, it also requires the individual mind-set to be open to change and transformation.” (From Essay)
It also pushed me into a social practice I learned to embody. I pushed myself to try and speak to everyone individually (instead of in groups) because an eating lifestyle is one that is very personal and unique. It was a learning journey to not only purely discover things through assumptions or online research or books, but to know people and the inner workings of their mind-sets.
Thank you to everyone who participated and helped me out on this adventure.
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO), we face the challenge of feeding an estimated 9 billion people in 2050 while taking into account climate change and its environmental constraints on our food supply (2013). As a result, increasingly more research and movements are finding solutions to these problems, particularly the consumption of insects. Insects are consumed by over 2 billion people in over 80% of the
countries around the globe, including Mexico (FAO, 2013).
Through the use of scholarly sources, interviews, and articles, I investigate the role of insect consumption in Mexico and their culinary identities – people’s self-identification with food. Furthermore, I analyse how the eating or selling of insects change over time through passive or active creation and its potential to be a sustainable food alternative. I aim to convince my audience that eating insects is not only an appreciation of Mexican culture through food but also a sustainable food option that can be expanded into mainstream diets.
Method:
I interviewed members of the Mexican community whose relationships or livelihoods involve insects. I asked how their culinary identities and culture have been shaped through the production, sale, or consumption of insects, and whether various responses – specifically from tourists and non-Mexican people – affect their identities. Furthermore, I interviewed 30 people who visited Mexico with me in order to understand diverse viewpoints on the consumption of insects. Finally, I researched how the effects of climate change are pushing people into the discourse and action for sustainable food alternatives. As a result, controversial food is starting to be accepted and even popularized in mainstream cuisine. I examined interviewees’ culinary identities through the lens of their contextual experiences around food, motivations for eating, prior associations with insects, and openness to new foods.
I found that culinary identities are diverse, unique, and actively created through individual preferences and choices. By using the lens of Mexican culture and its cuisine of insect consumption, I investigated people’s motivations and factors in their decisions to consume or not consume insects.
Although Mexican cuisine and culinary identity involve a variety of insects, I am specifically focusing on chapulines (grasshoppers), gusano (mealworms), and cricket production.
Insect Consumption in Mexico:
Chapulines are an important food in indigenous and mestizo peasant communities as well as a delicacy for the urban population of Oaxaca (Cohen et al. 2009). Before the Spanish arrived, the population of Mexico was largely vegetarian and supplemented with low-cost, highly nutritional chapulines that provide more protein than animal meat (Ramos-Elorduy, 2010).
During the rainy seasons, chapulines are collected from milpa (fields with maize and alfalfa), often by men and boys, and prepared by women (FAO, 2013). Chapulines became a crucial part of the diet for rural families struggling to put food on the table as they could not afford alternatives. They play a role in local, small-scale marketing, restaurants, exports, and serve as snack food for nearly everyone (ibid). Furthermore, insect production offers an economic opportunity for women and families in a region with few jobs and are often sold at regional
markets or trucked into cities (Miroff, 2013).
The main motivation for eating chapulines is out of necessity and survival, yet it has become central to Mexicans’ culinary identities and diets.
Gusanos are also integral with the consumption and production of mezcal. At the mezcal distillery we visited, I learned that farmers collect gusano worms that eat from the same agave plant used to make their mezcal. They use the worms to flavour weaker and younger 10 or 25 year old mezcals, make them into salt, or eat them as a bar snack (Interview, March 22, 2018; Miroff, 2013).
Chapulines in Mexico are never farmed and are often caught wild, with the entire family helping out in the process (Cohen et al. 2009). Through my interviews with insect vendors and a family member who cooked our lunch, I learned that they continue a passive creation of their culinary identities by extending the traditions of catching their own chapulines (Interview, March 21-22, 2018). However, they create distinctive identities by having their own recados (recipes) to season the chapulines – whether it is a different proportion or variety of spices,
lime, or salt.
A chapulines vendor also mentioned that his family would always have a plate of chapulines for dinner. This was also true at the textile weaver, where we ate a homecooked meal that included fresh tortillas that could be filled with chopped chapulines, cheese, and a spicy sauce.
Furthermore, at a local market in Oaxaca, we ate tlayuda, a large crisp tortilla with chapuline toppings.
At the moment, the consumption of insects tend to be regional and occurs mainly in Oaxaca. However, a chapulines vendor in Puebla that Frank and I spoke to told us that insects are gaining traction in Guanajuato, as tourists from that region would travel to Puebla to buy chapulines. As a result, he noticed the market opportunity and would travel 8 hours to Guanajuato and the surrounding regions to sell his chapulines. Our tour guide, Florencio, and the FAO (2013) noted that insects are becoming a “novelty” and a burgeoning trend, with a growing presence in people’s diets (Interview, March 20, 2018). There are currently about 30 insect farms in USA and people are finding more insects available at restaurants and new ways to prepare insects for consumption, such as chocolate chapulines, worms in salsa, and
cricket crackers (FAO, 2013; Mills, 2014).
Examples of Insect Products
I initially thought I would be mainly conducting interviews and research in the field via vendors and their relationships with tourists, but was pleasantly surprised that a substantial number of people in my class were willing to try and eat insects. Therefore, I conducted interviews with 30 participants as it was a diverse and sufficient sample to investigate the different
interactions and responses towards insect consumption.
I asked them 8 questions that guided the discussion divided into 3 different sections. The first section is context and experiences: I investigated interviewees’ individual stories, how that affects their previous and present relationship with food, how their culinary identity has changed over time and space, and their current attitude and openness to new foods. The second section is insects: their original and current associations with insects and their thought processes for not eating or eating them. The third section focuses on motivations for eating: I further analysed this by eliminating or changing factors in order to investigate what would be
needed to transform the mind-set or provide motives to eat insects.
Interview Questions to 30 participants from International Studies: Mexico Class
Questions:
1) What is your story?
2) What would you characterize as the food you eat? (Both at home and at Vassar College)
3) Would you say you are open to trying new foods?
4) Where does that come from?
5) What are your thought processes of eating insects? Why?
6) Do you have any qualms about eating body parts?
7) Would you eat it if it was a different form? /Reasons for not eating were eliminated?
8) Are there any other reasons you would eat something besides flavour? E.g. nutrition, environment, respecting people’s cultures, no wasting
All these interviews provide evidence of people’s creation of their culinary identities as they make decisions on eating insects based on personal preferences and individual choices.
Individual Preferences
A major factor I want to draw out is individual preferences to food. Participants who ate insects bring up issues about flavour, texture, hygiene, and fulfilment.
Although Ricky is exposed to insects and does not have a negative association with eating them, she “does not crave them” and is “not drawn to the flavour” (Interview, April 19, 2018). 4 interviewees were not convinced by its flavour and “did not hate it but did not love it” (Interview, March 19-April 22, 2018, Amber, Joe, Eugene, Regina).
Sevine enjoyed ant larvae because it had a “pleasant and delicious taste, like mushrooms and eggs” and Frank emphasized that it really depends on how the food is made – he would eat it if the sauce and stew it is cooked and served with tastes good despite not liking certain body parts individually (Interview, April 2, 21, 2018).
On a similar note, texture plays a huge role. Liza likes chapulines but does not enjoy ant larvae specifically due to texture and 7 interviewees had similar issues with larvae and worms due to their association with a “squishy, slimey” texture and “weird juices” (Interview, April 4, 22, 2018). 4 interviewees pointed out the size of insects is not filling enough – lowering the demand for insects to be a main dish and are therefore less likely to be incorporated into their diets.
These individual preferences can all be altered through modification of the insect product. Essento, an insect food company, found that different insects have similar flavour profiles as other foods, such as ants for a citrus taste, grasshoppers for poultry, and mealworms for hazelnut undertones (Essento, 2018).
IKEA, a furniture and food-sales company, famous for its Swedish meatballs and hotdogs, has been experimenting with insects in their food – creating bug meatballs and beetle burgers (Rainey, 2018).
Therefore, current experimentation and production of insects demonstrate that the flavours and textures of the insects can be more suited to people’s preferences, suggesting that insects could be a viable food choice.
Another individual preference is hygiene. This is different from the distinct association with insects and fear as the key factor depends on cleanliness – should this factor be managed, it is a possibility that insects are more likely to be eaten.
Ricky, Frank and Roayan mention that their consumption depends on the insect, because “some insects you eat, and some you don't” such as crop-eating pests or insects equated with diseases and faeces such as cockroaches (Interview, April 19, 2018). Ricky also said that “it depends on who is preparing the food” and Catherine mentioned that she was more concerned about knowing where the food is sourced or how clean it is, even for shrimp
(Interview, April 3, 19, 2018).
This could be an issue in the chapuline industry as insects may contain pesticides or disappear into unregulated, un-inspected storage facilities before emerging in markets (Wade, 2015). Therefore, the concern over insect consumption may be dependent on trusting the source and supply chain of insect production.
However, this could also be changed by introducing modern agricultural techniques such as raising grasshoppers indoors to control temperature, humidity, and hygiene (ibid). Furthermore, the momentum of increasing insect farms may push for policies that enforce standards and regulations to avoid pesticides and other unintentional contaminants in its production. As of now, the USDA has no plans to inspect insect farms and likely will not unless there is an obvious and widespread health problem, but this can also be changed as the popularity of insects and subsequent concerns over hygiene increases (Borel, 2015).
Presentation Matters because of Association with Negative Emotions
A large motivation is presentation – as the main issue with 15 interviewees is eating entire insects and body parts and their subsequent negative associations with them.
Some interviewees feel uncomfortable eating unfamiliar animal body parts such as cartilage or need them to be chopped up (Interview, March 19-April 22, 2018, Laura, Leslie, Amber). A study found higher empathy levels amongst vegetarians and vegans (Filippi et al., 2010). This could be correlated with higher feelings of empathy when we see animal body parts that look more similar to us, especially intestines, organs, and facial features. As a result, we can eat meat, such as meatballs or nuggets, that often contain these body parts but usually when they are in another form as we are distanced from these visceral connections (Adams, 2016).
Yet, insect and animal body parts look different – a leg of a grasshopper looks nothing like the leg of a chicken. According to my interviews, the aversion to eating insects and its body parts is not because of empathy, but because of the association with fear and harm.
Through their interactions with insects, 13 interviewees see insects’ body parts as a visceral reminder of the “living self in its original form” and immediately equate insects with inconvenience and harm, often wanting to kill or avoid them (Interview, April 2, 2018). Because of this identification, 9 interviewees claimed that insects are “not in the food category”, similar to huatlachoche (corn fungus) or somebody’s leftovers (Interview, April 17, 18, 2018: Leslie, Colleen).
I tested if presentation matters further by asking participants if they would eat insects in another form, with 16 interviewees saying that they would because it is masked
(Interview, April 4, 2018).
Michael ate cochinilla insects, whose blood was used as a dye for our dessert
Sevine would eat cricket powder, Leslie would choose to eat gusano salt over chapulines,
and 4 people would eat chapulines if they were chopped up or their legs removed (Interview, March 19- April 22, 2018: Nicolas, Michael, Laura, Eugene).
However, even if insects were in another form, the thought of knowing they were eating insects, deters Colleen and Amber from consuming them.
An experience I encountered during the trip that emphasizes that presentation matters, was the display of escamoles (ant larvae) at an upscale restaurant.
Ant larvae looks similar to familiar food items such as barley or salmon eggs and does not immediately possess visual qualities usually associated with insects (legs, feelers, eyes) (Interview, March 21, 2018: Liza, Katherine). Sevine commented that perhaps if there were ants served with the ant larvae, she may not have been so inclined to eat it.
A conversation with an employee at a mezcal store in Oaxaca highlighted that tourists would eat gusano salt, knowing it contained mealworms and even buy them, but would not eat or buy gusano in its original form (Interview, March 22, 2018). As such, several companies change their branding, using design in their packaging to remove the identification with insects, such as Bitty Foods cricket flour and Exo’s cricket-flour protein bars, and have been
successful in their sales (Mills, 2014).
Context & Exposure Matters
This leads to the role of context and exposure in affecting individual choices as it contributes to whether there is an active or passive creation of culinary identities. 26 interviewees in our class say that they are open to trying new foods (at least once) and would eat to learn about culture.
Upon conversation, the main factors that drive these conclusions are travelling opportunities and changing landscapes, exposure to new foods, eating out or cooking diverse foods, and
family background.
1) 5 interviewees attributed their openness to trying new foods due to their travel experiences, and Regina, Roayan, and Clarisel mentioned that when they moved to USA or Vassar, they
were coerced to try various foods.
2) Family background also plays a large role in teaching interviewees not be picky and introducing values that “unfamiliarity is not gross or weird” (Interview, March 19-April 22, 2018:
Sevine, Ricky, Nicolas, Sophia, Frank).
3) 7 interviewees emphasized that if they had more exposure to insects and were more
familiar with its consumption, they might eat more of it.
4) 4 interviewees make a conscious choice to try food at least once, especially if other people like it, and Frank asserted his curiosity and if “insects are eaten in another culture, then why not – as long as [he] does not die, [he] will try” (Interview, March 19-April 22, 2018: Joseph,
Clarisel, Isela, Frank).
By investigating interviewees’ contexts, it is clear that there is a large correlation between those with more exposure to new cultures and those who are more open to trying new and unfamiliar foods. As such, those with more exposure to new cultures and experiences are more likely to actively create their culinary identities. However, this active creation may not always be the case as those with similar experiences may not want to try new foods and opt to choose foods that are familiar to them, continuing a passive creation of their culinary
identities (Interview, March 19-April 22, 2018).
As a result, I want to point out that context and exposure may be a huge factor in the creation of culinary identities, but it still requires people’s mind-set and conscious decisions of whether they want to extend this creation actively or passively.
Individual Choices
Therefore, interviewees’ individual choices play a huge role in their decision to consume insects and contribute to the active creation of people’s culinary identities.
1) 12 interviewees mentioned that they would eat something even if it did not follow their preferences due to their individual choices for nutrition and health.
Michael and Nicholas said that if they knew the health benefits were more, they would, for example, “find a way to eat kale” despite not liking its taste (Interview, March 20, 2018). Insects are able to leverage individual choices for nutrition as they have much higher vitamins and minerals than chicken and beef.
Although a study showed that eating insects could potentially exacerbate diet-related health problems related to over-nutrition but it may be effective in combating under-nutrition (CBS, 2013).
2) Other individual choices include simply eating out of boredom or eating insects for intellectual reasons as they were “excited to try after reading about it” (Interview, March 19-
April 22, 2018: Nicolas, Clarisel, Michaela, Maya).
These individual choices, especially nutrition and health, build into the possibility for insects to be incorporated into people’s diets.
3) 7 interviewees would also eat for environmental reasons, especially Maya and Tonya, who acknowledged that insects have the potential for a sustainable food system and healthy planet.
Insects produce 80% less methane than cattle.
They are also efficient in using resources, requiring only 1 gallon of water compared to 500 gallons for chicken and over 2000 gallons for beef (Mills, 2014).
Furthermore, they can convert 4.4 pounds of feed to 2.2 pounds of insect mass, whereas cattle require 17.6 pounds of feed.
A study found that crickets which ate the same feed as chickens produced considerably higher protein compared to pigs and cows but had only a slightly better 35% protein conversion rate than chickens (Lundy & Parella, 2015; Cerritos, 2008). Therefore, feeding crickets the same thing as chickens may not make a real difference in terms of protein production.
However, crickets which eat consumer waste have greater potential for sustainable farming as it comes from a waste stream, avoiding the extra greenhouse gases, water use, and other factors related with raising grain for feed (Borel, 2015; Lundy & Parella, 2015). Therefore, while there may be issues in terms of the amount of protein that can be produced, it seems that in overall, insects are more environmentally-friendly than other protein sources.
4) Additionally, conditions constrain individual choices and preferences, as 12 interviewees would eat unfamiliar foods out of necessity, especially when travelling.
5) Other times, conditions facilitate individual choices and preferences, with 7 interviewees more likely to eat insects if they were more accessible.
6) Carlos and Eugene also emphasized that affordability is key and would eat insects even if they did not taste as good but were cheaper than meat. Affordability could be an issue as middlemen tend to triple the price and exploit native farmers, especially as harvesting is on a yearly basis and is often disorganized and difficult (Wade, 2015; FAO, 2013; Ramos Elorduy, 1997).
Coupled with the increasingly high demand and therefore, high prices, chapulines may only be affordable if they are bought near the source (Wade, 2015; Ramos-Elorduy, 2006; Mills, 2014). Setting up insect producers or farmers’ associations and increasing the economies of scale and production can help lower the price and raising the quality of chapulines (FAO, 2013; Mills, 2014). Insect farms can also scale up or down, and Aspire, a company in insect production, is providing instructions for building small, DIY chapuline farms so that people in isolated villages can grow their own grasshoppers in a controlled environment (Wade, 2015). Additionally, although it takes a full year for chapulines to grow from egg to maturity, Aspire is experimenting to reduce the growing time and reduce production costs, further reducing
consumer prices (ibid).
7) Another powerful individual choice for eating unfamiliar foods is wanting social community. 11 interviewees would try new foods out of respect or social pressure if they were a guest or someone offered them food and Frank emphasizes the need to be culturally sensitive, eating “even a scorpion” because he trusts the person who makes food (Interview, April 21, 2018).
Another 11 interviewees would not want to waste food, mostly due to family backgrounds that “grew up with pressure” to finish their plates, adding to findings that context plays a strong role in individual choices (Interview, April 2, 21, 2018: Nicolas, Frank, Clarisel).
Eugene also observed that insects for foreigners are “seen as a gimmick” or “rite of passage”, often eating insects to exhibit their toughness or machismo (masculinity) (Interview, April 3, 2018). This emphasizes that the motivation for eating insects is not wholly one of cultural understanding, but one that exerts an individual’s own culinary identity of being seen as strong – what is considered inedible or unsafe is conquered through consumption. The eating of insects as an exhibition harbours a reaction from others, often approval, awe, or entertainment, and builds community as the shared experience of overcoming the unfamiliar and “gross” task, whether through actual consumption or as an audience member, melds the
participants together.
In conclusion, my intention for this investigation was to see how insects can be incorporated into people’s diets for cultural learning and environmental reasons and whether its consumption and production is actually sustainable.
I found that insect consumption depends on individual preferences, such as texture, flavour, presentation. Furthermore, concerns over hygiene and affordability depend on how close consumers are to the original source of production. But these factors can and have been
changed and experimented with.
Additionally, a major factor is individual choices. This includes individual reasons for eating such as environmental, health, reducing waste, cultural learning, and the association with insects. What this evolved into was an intense analysis of individuals’ contexts and experiences and how that builds the foundation for their culinary identities and relationships
with food.
Some eat for familiarity, predictability and comfort, some eat for community and social bonding, some eat for health and lifestyle, while others eat to seek out social and cultural learning, environmental reasons, or to simply be fed.
Either way, eating is personal and individual and people define what they consider food and what is not throughout their lifestyles. While culinary identities can be shaped by time and space, it also requires the individual mind-set to be open to change and transformation.
For now, eating bugs may be mostly a novelty, but things may change as public perception catch up to the need for sustainable protein, with the current market size estimated at $20 million and still growing exponentially (Mills, 2014). Although the sustainability of insect production is highly dependent on what the insects are eating, it has many advantages that eliminate large flaws in current food systems, such as the use of antibiotics, greenhouse gas and waste outputs, and overall nutrition. If its feed are from waste streams and coupled with technology in improving and controlling conditions such as humidity and temperature, insects hold huge potential in being the future of sustainable food production.
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Many thanks to Interviewees:
Chapulines Vendor, Puebla March 18, 2018
Amber Dean March 19, 2018
James Bonanno March 19, 2018
Carlos Espina March 20, 2018
Elyse Canty March 20, 2018
Michael Garcia March 20, 2018
Nicholas West March 20, 2018
Florencio, Tour Guide March 20, 2018
Laura Zapien March 21, 2018
Liza Ayres March 21, 2018
Michaela Coplen March 21, 2018
Mezcal Distillery Seller, Teotitlán del Valle March 21, 2018
Mother/Wife/Family Member of Textile Weaver, Teotitlán del Valle March 21, 2018
Gabrielle Deitch March 22, 2018
Mezcal Seller, Oaxaca March 22, 2018
Isela Ortiz March 26, 2018
Katherine Jacobsen March 26, 2018
Joseph Niver March 28, 2018
Roayan Azanza March 28, 2018
Nicolas Gedigk April 2, 2018
Sevine Clarey April 2, 2018
Catherine Hernandez April 3, 2018
Eugene Lopez-Huerta April 3, 2018
Clarisel Paulino April 4, 2018
Curtis Eckley April 4, 2018
Maya Sterling April 4, 2018
Sophia Burns April 4, 2018
Colleen Cohen April 17, 2018
Tonya Ingerson April 17, 2018
Leslie Offutt April 18, 2018
Regina Ebo April 19, 2018
Ruijia (Ricky) Wang April 19, 2018
Frank Najarro April 21, 2018
Alexandria Smalls April 22, 2018
LSE Sustainable Futures Society for the Inspiration!