{"id":338412,"date":"2024-08-03T16:08:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-03T14:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=338412"},"modified":"2024-08-03T16:08:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T14:08:06","slug":"you-will-eat-bugs-you-will-enjoy-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=338412","title":{"rendered":"You Will Eat Bugs. You Will Enjoy\u00a0Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Climate Scepticism <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Tony Thomas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you had free choice for stimulating conversation, who would you invite to dinner around your kitchen table? Personally, I\u2019d accept Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Nicole Kidman, and serve my favourite Peking duck from a Luv-a-Duck box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they\u2019re unavailable, I\u2019d settle for my Climate Council pals Tim \u201cGhost Metropolis\u201d<\/a> Flannery, his CEO Amanda McKenzie and co-Councillor Joelle Gergis. But what to serve them? They\u2019d want to maintain their tiny food-carbon footprints. In the climate emergency, as global boiling<\/a> accelerates on our highway to hell<\/a>, they\u2019d surely be on planet-friendly insect diets. I\u2019d select the sustainable insects approved for human food<\/a> by our Ag Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For entr\u00e9e I\u2019d serve ground Achaeta domestica<\/em> (house crickets). Mains would be a paste of Zophobas morio<\/em> (super mealworms), drizzled with a jus from black soldier ant larvae.[1]<\/a> Dessert? Whole Tenebrio molitor<\/em> (mealworm beetles).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best news for the Climate Council trio is that the three species are certain to be augmented soon to many more creepies, crawlies and buzzing fliers. The Straits Times<\/em><\/a> reported last month the Singapore Food Agency\u2019s approval of an expanded list of 16 plate-ready bugs<\/a>. Among the endorsed species (\u201cGrub\u2019s on! Come and get it!\u201d) are four crickets, two moths, a grasshopper, three mealworms, silkworms, two locusts, a honeybee and \u201ca Giant Rhino Beetle Grub\u201d. Nothing surprises me about Singapore\u2019s cuisine \u2014 during my visit last year, a restaurant menu on New Bridge Road included \u201cFried Jew\u2019s Ear\u201d.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Guardian<\/em> exults<\/a>, \u201cFrom fried silk worm pupa to protein bars packed with ground mealworm, Singapore\u2019s long list of edible insects could be a sign of things to come. Singapore paves the way for plates to become wrigglier, leggier and more sustainable.\u201d  Singapore also gets plaudits in the Guardian<\/em> from Skye Blackburn of Edible Bug Shop<\/a>, an Australian entomologist and food scientist. Her website says,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skye feels that by educating people about the way that edible insects can be farmed as a eco-friendly alternative protein, she can help reduce some of the misconceptions about eating bugs. You don\u2019t just have to eat bugs if you are stuck in the bush and have nothing else to eat. When prepared properly, and you get over the initial YUCK factor, bugs are very tasty and are also good for you (and the environment). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her offerings include VitaBug Snack Crickets- Barbeque<\/strong><\/a> in $15 stand-up pouches with a clear viewing window:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too spicy but ohh so yummy!<\/em> \u2026 Each pack contains approximately 30-40 roasted crickets. This is a ready to eat product \u2026 These are whole crickets, some customers prefer to remove wings and\/or legs before consumption.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reminds me of a playground chant at my Nedlands State School, Perth, which went:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A boy stood on the burning deck
<\/em>Eating blowflies by the peck.[3]<\/strong><\/a>
<\/em>\u201cFather, may I eat the wings?\u201d
<\/em>No no my son! They\u2019re dirty things!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I thought initially that  this topic was a bit of fun. But it turns out that entomophagy, as it\u2019s called, is an essential component of the Western lemmings\u2019 race to net-zero. To make net-zero work, we have to demolish high-tech agriculture and especially meat production which causes 18 per cent of global CO2 emissions<\/a>. What to eat then? Answer: climate-friendly plants, synthetic meats courtesy Bill Gates<\/a>and, not least, crunchy protein-filled bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This food transformation is being organised top-down from the United Nations with its 17 so-called Sustainable Development Goals endorsed by the 193 members, including Australia. Insect-eating is also a pet project<\/a>of the billionaire\/trillionaire club of \u201cDavos Man\u201d, namely the World Economic Forum. And everywhere that Greens groups have gained political powers, the assault on high-tech farming and livestock is under way \u2014 notwithstanding backlash from organised farmers in the Netherlands and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Australia, our efficient and world-leading farming and pastoral industries are under assault from every woke direction \u2014 the climate crowd, Green lawfare against growers and exporters, conservation zealots, and the Aboriginal Industry\u2019s land-rights brigade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A generation of anti-farming schoolkids is arising \u2014 future voters brainwashed by internal and external<\/a>politicisers. The kids are incited to protest broad-acre farming, to demand re-wilding of part of the landscape and converting the rest to hippie-style unploughed plots.[4]<\/a> If this sounds mad, it\u2019s no madder than destroying our once cheap and reliable electricity grid with wind turbines and solar farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally a country\u2019s science establishment \u2014 in our case, the Academy of Science and the CSIRO \u2014 would use its intellectual heft to put the brakes on net-zero witchcraft. Instead, they\u2019ve fallen in line with end-of-the-world preachers like that Greta Thunberg and the UN\u2019s Antonio Guterres with his \u201cglobal boiling\u201d hyperbole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a take on the Academy, see here<\/a> here<\/a> and here<\/a>. But I\u2019ve just had my brains scrambled by reading the CSIRO\u2019s 57-page magnum opus dated April 2021: Edible insects -A roadmap for the strategic growth of an emerging Australian industry<\/em>.<\/a>[5]<\/u><\/a> The Labor\/greens-friendly CSIRO has earned derision from nuclear expert Dr Adi Paterson, ex-ANSTO[6]<\/a>, over its propaganda \u201cGen-Con\u201d report<\/a> (at 2.10mins) on how cheap renewables supposedly are compared with nuclear.[7]<\/a> CSIRO\u2019s \u201cEdible Insects\u201d report has somehow flown under the radar to date, but is doubly risible with its Aboriginality overlay on insect-eating sustainability baloney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report was pulled together by CSIRO\u2019s Dr Rocio Ponce-Reyes<\/a> and Dr Bryan Lessard, better known as Bry the Fly Guy<\/a> for naming his new but inedible horse fly after pop star Beyonce. The foreword was by Professor Michelle Colgrave, Future Protein Lead, CSIRO.[8]<\/a> She sang the report\u2019s praises for \u201claying out a detailed and comprehensive plan for this emerging industry.\u201d[9]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before the CSIRO\u2019s report gets down to the nitty gritty,it genuflects before what it calls First Nation\u2019s past and continuing \u201cextraordinary contributions to all aspects of Australian life including culture, economy and science.\u201d It evokes a near-religious reverence for First Nations\u2019 eating of some 60 insects. The best-known are witchetty-grubs (which I\u2019ve tried and they aren\u2019t bad.) The authors  have possibly been sucked in by Bruce Pascoe\u2019s Dark Emu<\/em> tale of pre-colonial yeoman farmers. They write (p22):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Australia\u2019s first agricultural scientists, First Nations Peoples have a rich history of farming and harvesting native animal and plant species, including insects\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also warn that white theft of Aboriginal intellectual property in regard to insect-eating initiatives \u201cmay also lead to considerable spiritual harm of certain communities and perpetuate the social and economic injustices of colonisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2021 report was the leisurely by-product of CSIRO\u2019s 2019 Brisbane conference about insect-eating, billed as a \u201cCutting Edge Symposium\u201d with hashtag #EatBugsAU. (When I was a reporter, no editor ever allowed me a two-year deadline). The Cutting Edge yarning circle involved 17 time-rich CSIRO boffins plus 14 academics, two bureaucrats, one consultant, nine industry players (e.g. Buggybix, GrubsUp and Edible Bugshop) and five \u201cprivate individuals\u201d possibly including an insect chef and students, aka<\/em>\u201cstakeholders\u201d. The academics included blow-ins, no pun intended, from universities of Cambridge, Mexico, Copenhagen and Netherlands. Maybe they happened to be at a loose end in Brisbane, or did we taxpayers spend a bomb on their airfares and nice rooms at Brisbane\u2019s Stamford Plaza?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this panoply of insect-eating expertise, one First Nations player is mentioned, Ms Birdy Bird <\/a>(pronoun \u201cthey\u201d), a Paying the Rent<\/em> reparations enthusiast from the Land & Sea Corporation<\/a>.[10]<\/a>However, Aborigines are continually cited in the report as leaders of the insect-eating industry, lending it \u201can incredible and compelling distinction.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main takeaway is that if everything goes very well Australia could be boasting a $10 million a year insect-food industry by 2026, which is pitched helping to lower the global temperature. This would be achieved via reduced CO2 emissions thanks to displacement of burping cows. CSIRO believes that as a potential grasshopper and mealworm superpower,[12]<\/a> Australia could add this $10 million industry to our primary production output. Last fiscal year this output happened to be worth $100.1 billion or $100,000,100 million.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olympia Yarger, chair of the Insect Protein Association of Australia<\/a>, introduces the report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that the current Australian insect protein industry is small and emerging, however, it consists of determined and passionate professionals\u2026Our members are pushing boundaries, looking for new insect species to adopt, raising robust and healthy colonies from limited seed stock, creating products, recipes and systems\u2026 I look forward to seeing <\/em>[the report\u2019s] recommendations in action as insects become a more sustainable and high-value part of the modern Australian diet well into the future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The authors Ponce-Reyes and Lessard say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now more than ever is the time for Australian businesses, in conjunction with First Nations Peoples, researchers, industry and government to identify and invest proactively in new resilient markets, processes and products. Failing to do so could limit the economic value, job creation and global reputation of the Australian agricultural sector.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, in the CSIRO hive mind any CO2-reduction project, no matter how batty or trivial, should have taxpayer dollars thrown at it. Under the header, \u201cFunding and Policy\u201d its report argues,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australian insect businesses currently have limited resources and require seed <\/em>funding, government grants and venture capital investments to create business <\/em>plans and build capacity in farming, production, product research, development, and market analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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The Executive Summary begins with CSIRO\u2019s claim that current agriculture can\u2019t meet the challenge of feeding the world\u2019s growing population \u2014 an item of faith among climate Jeremiahs despite food output and yields well outpacing population since the 1960s<\/a> and with no sign of slowing<\/a>. CSIRO adds that Europe and the US now host 400-plus insect-food businesses, which actually isn\u2019t all that big a deal for 800 million potential consumers. CSIRO put Australia\u2019s insect-based businesses at 14, including a chef and consultant or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to output data (\u201cThe breaking of a three-year east-coast drought in 2020 has been followed by successive years of record-breaking production<\/a>\u201c), CSIRO claims insect production can rescue farming that is supposedly beset by \u201cunprecedented droughts, fires, storms and floods due to the changing climate, environmental stress, biodiversity loss, pest outbreaks andreduction of arable land.\u201d The authors should study the sixth IPCC report that rubbishes such claims about weather extremes.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regretting insects\u2019 absence from Western dietary staples, CSIRO appeals to its United Nations betters and their 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Of those, ten could justify bug-eating, CSIRO thinks, \u201cfor a better and more sustainable world\u201d.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its tasty edibles list includes beetles, ants, bees, wasps, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, butterflies and termites. Technically, if you\u2019re into bugs, they\u2019re an efficient food.[15]<\/a> Sure, give the little critters 2kg of food and they\u2019ll offer 1kg of protein. At least 80 per cent of your typical insect is edible (you might want to spit the front and rear ends into a saucer). Moreover, say the authors, bugs nicely \u201ccompliment\u201d   local foods, as in \u201ckangaroo and cricket meat sausages\u201d, shades of Kath\u2019s butcher beau Kel Knight in TV\u2019s Kath & Kim<\/em>. Insect campaigners, the report urges, should target \u201cadventurous, novelty eaters\u201d and \u201cfoodies looking for a unique experience, or conscious of sustainability, nutrition and health and fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, industry problems include \u201cneophobia\u201d (fear of new foods) \u201cmisguided public perceptions of insects\u201d and media \u201cperpetuating insect stereotypes\u201d. A more tangible problem mentioned is the high Australian labour costs (\u201cMost [providers] agree that their customers are more affluent who can afford the higher prices of introductory products\u201d). But the report says, \u201cAs younger Australian\u2019s (sic) become more worried about climate change, edible insects have the potential to become an environmentally sustainable and secure food source.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symposium\u2019s insect-eater crowd have a quaint belief that they can whistle up favourable media coverage which in turn will be swallowed by the public:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 Deliver positive media campaigns featuring influencers, i.e. chefs and celebrities\u2026 Create dynamic stories about insect foods and businesses that can be widely communicated via popular media.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2666 .Positive stories about insect foods in media may assist to change consumer attitudes and incorporate edible insects into the Western diet\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One job for industry members is to apply a feminist overlay to insect-eating. They should combat false negativity involving \u201cmasculinity [real men don\u2019t eat pupae?], food conspiracy [mealworm deniers?], and disgust\u201d :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Western cultures have developed an aversion for insects, perpetuated by stereotypes of insects being dirty, pests, dangerous, only eaten in times of desperation or having an inherent \u201cyuk\u201d factor. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occasionally reality seeps in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true sustainability of the global industry is largely unknown due to<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

significant knowledge gaps in life cycle analyses for farmed and native species. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insects have been largely heralded as environmental saviours to the agricultural industry, however, there is limited knowledge regarding the life cycle assessments of commercially farmed or native species.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Australian agriculture swings to urban insect farms, says the paper, there will be more scope in 2025-30 for \u201creducing land clearing rates and allowing us to rewild and restore native habitats.\u201d Any remaining pastoralists can do their bit for methane reduction by feeding cattle seaweed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the downside, the authors also concede that some people could get the same allergic reaction to insects in their breakfast as from shellfish. \u201cGrasshoppers, moths and silkworms are also known to cause respiratory sensitisation for some insect farmers.\u201d On top of that, \u201cSome insect species act as intermediate hosts for parasites that may be potentially pathogenic to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We are all familiar with shoot-outs in Hollywood Westerns between cattle and sheep ranchers. The CSIRO authors understandably want grasshopper ranchers to keep a low profile. They warn: \u201cNarrative that insects will replace conventional farmed animals may perpetuate perceived rivalry between industries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among conference breakthroughs was agreement to stop saying \u201cbugs\u201d because it reminds consumers of disease. There was also sad head-shaking about industry members who tiptoed around the word \u201cinsect\u201d in their packaging, \u201cwhich some interpret as a potential lack of pride in the industry\u201d. The report, lavishly illustrated with colour pics of bugs seething on dinner plates, concludes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Australia\u2019s national science agency and innovation catalyst, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. CSIRO. Unlocking a better future for everyone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially, I\u2019d add, if you enjoy fried Giant Rhino Beetle pupae. But I\u2019ve certainly found the CSIRO paper handy in Scrabble matches, when I play the report\u2019s \u201cpoikilothermic\u201d (cold-blooded insects) against my dismayed opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Thomas\u2019s latest book from Connor Court is <\/strong><\/em>Anthem of the Unwoke \u2013 Yep! The other lot\u2019s gone bonkers<\/strong>. $34.95 from Connor Court <\/strong><\/em>here<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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