Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects?

Summary

The speaker discusses the benefits of incorporating insects into our diet, emphasizing that 80% of the global population already consumes insects. He highlights the nutritional value, environmental benefits, and economic impact of insects compared to traditional livestock. With the growing global population and increasing demand for food, the speaker argues that insects could be a sustainable alternative to meat. He addresses the cultural resistance to eating insects and advocates for a mindset shift, noting that insects are already present in many food products unknowingly and are poised to become more mainstream.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Insects are consumed by 80% of the world population, yet remain unfamiliar to many Western cultures.
• 🦗 Insects comprise 80% of all animal species on Earth and make up a significant part of the planet's biomass.
• 💰 Insects contribute an estimated $57 billion to the U.S. economy annually through pollination, waste removal, and pest control.
• 🍽️ More than 1,000 species of insects are consumed globally as a source of food.
• 🥫 Everyone unintentionally consumes about 500 grams of insects each year through processed foods like tomato soup and peanut butter.
• 🟥 Many red food products, including surimi and Campari, are colored using cochineal, a dye made from insects.
• 📈 The growing global population will increase the demand for food, especially meat, putting pressure on agricultural production.
• 💡 Insects are a more efficient source of protein compared to livestock, converting feed into body mass more effectively and producing less waste.
• 🌱 Insect farming is more environmentally sustainable, generating less manure and fewer greenhouse gases than traditional livestock farming.
• 🍫 Insects are increasingly becoming mainstream in certain parts of the world, with efforts to introduce them into Western diets as a nutritious and eco-friendly protein source.

Q & A

What percentage of the Earth's population eats insects?

About 80 percent of the Earth's population consumes insects.

How many species of insects exist on Earth?

There are six million species of insects on Earth.

How do insects contribute to the economy of the United States?

Insects contribute around 57 billion dollars per year to the U.S. economy through activities like pollination, pest control, and waste removal.

What is the relationship between insects and processed foods?

Many processed foods, like tomato soup and peanut butter, contain small amounts of insects because they are part of the natural environment where crops are grown.

What natural dye used in foods comes from insects?

Cochineal, a natural dye used in foods like surimi sticks and pink cookies, is derived from insects that live on cacti.

Why is the consumption of meat expected to increase in the future?

As the global population grows and people become wealthier, especially in developing countries like China and India, meat consumption is expected to rise significantly.

What are some advantages of consuming insects over traditional livestock meat?

Insects are more efficient in converting feed into meat, produce less waste, and have a smaller environmental impact compared to livestock like cows and pigs.

What nutritional benefits do insects offer?

Insects are a rich source of protein, fat, vitamins, and calories, comparable to traditional meats.

How much agricultural land is currently used for livestock production?

About 70 percent of the world's agricultural land is used for livestock production, including areas where feed is grown.

What is the speaker's prediction about insect consumption in the future?

The speaker predicts that by 2020, insects will be available in supermarkets, and people will consciously include them in their diets.

Outlines

00:00

🍴 The Global Presence of Insects in Our Diets

The speaker introduces the idea of insects as part of human diets, noting that although many in the audience have eaten insects, they do not represent the global population, where 80% regularly consume insects. Insects are highly diverse, with six million species, and their biomass far exceeds that of humans. Insects play a crucial role in the economy, contributing billions to the U.S. economy by pollinating crops, removing waste, and serving as food for other animals. Without many people realizing, insects are present in processed foods such as tomato soup and peanut butter, adding more protein to our diets than we might think.

05:03

🔴 The Hidden Insects in Common Foods and the Future of Food Supply

Many food products, like surimi sticks and pink cookies, contain dyes made from insects like cochineal, which is harvested from cacti. As the world population grows rapidly, reaching nine billion by 2050, the demand for food and especially meat will increase. Current meat consumption in the developed world is high, but in developing countries like China, it is increasing dramatically. This growing demand for animal protein is putting immense pressure on agricultural production, which will need to increase by 70% to meet the needs of the expanding and wealthier global population.

10:04

🐄 Environmental and Health Benefits of Insects Over Livestock

The speaker discusses the health and environmental issues associated with meat production. Livestock, particularly pigs, share diseases with humans, and the waste from meat production generates significant pollution. In contrast, insects are distant enough from humans that they do not share diseases, and they convert food into protein much more efficiently than livestock, with 10 kilograms of feed yielding nine kilograms of insect meat compared to one kilogram of beef. Furthermore, insect farming produces less waste and fewer greenhouse gases, making it a more sustainable option. The speaker advocates for insect consumption due to these clear advantages.

15:05

🌱 The Nutritional Value and Sustainability of Insects

Insects are a rich source of protein, fat, and vitamins, offering similar nutritional benefits to meat. For example, one kilogram of grasshoppers contains the same calories as 10 hot dogs or six Big Macs. The speaker emphasizes the growing need to adopt insects in our diets, as current agricultural land used for livestock production is unsustainable. Insects are already consumed by 80% of the world’s population, and many cultures consider them a delicacy. The speaker compares insects to shrimp, which are similar in biology, and argues that shifting to insect consumption could help alleviate the global food crisis.

🍽️ Shifting Perceptions and the Normalization of Insect Consumption

Insects are widely available in countries like Laos, where they are a normal part of the diet, yet in Western societies, the concept is still met with hesitation. The speaker attributes this to a mindset issue and highlights efforts to change public perception, including collaboration with experts and entrepreneurs who are bringing insects into supermarkets. Insects may soon be more openly included in food products, with notable examples like Dutch chocolate makers incorporating insects into their recipes. The speaker suggests that eating insects will soon become normal, and we should embrace this change for a more sustainable future.

Keywords

💡Insects

Insects are small, six-legged animals that are crucial for ecosystems and human life. The speaker highlights their importance in the food chain, pollination, waste removal, and as a potential future food source. Insects are abundant, making up 80% of all animal species, and their role is often unnoticed despite their significant economic contributions.

💡Protein

Protein is a key nutrient found in many foods, including meat and insects. The speaker argues that insects are a highly efficient source of protein, offering nine times the output of beef with the same amount of feed. This makes them a sustainable alternative for meeting global protein demands as the population grows.

💡Biomass

Biomass refers to the total mass of organisms in a given area. The speaker explains that the biomass of insects far exceeds that of humans, with a potential weight of 200 to 2,000 kilograms per person on Earth. This abundance underscores the speaker's argument that insects are a more sustainable food source than livestock.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability refers to practices that meet present needs without compromising future resources. Insects are presented as a more sustainable alternative to livestock due to their efficient feed conversion, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced environmental impact compared to traditional meat production.

💡Meat consumption

Meat consumption is the practice of eating animal protein, which is rapidly increasing as populations grow and wealthier diets demand more meat. The speaker notes that the Western world consumes an average of 80 kilograms of meat per year, while developing countries, like China and India, are seeing sharp increases. This rising demand puts pressure on agricultural systems, making insect protein a viable solution.

💡Food security

Food security is the assurance that people have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. The speaker warns that feeding the growing global population, expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, will require a 70% increase in agricultural production. Insects, which require fewer resources to produce, are presented as a potential solution to future food shortages.

💡Pollination

Pollination is the process by which insects help plants reproduce by transferring pollen between flowers. The speaker highlights that a third of all fruits we eat depend on insect pollination, making them indispensable to global agriculture. This fact further supports the argument for preserving insect populations and incorporating them into sustainable food systems.

💡Environmental impact

Environmental impact refers to the effect that human activities have on the natural world. The speaker contrasts the high environmental cost of livestock production, which results in large amounts of waste and greenhouse gases, with the lower impact of insect farming. Insects produce less manure and fewer greenhouse gases, making them a more eco-friendly option.

💡Food chain

The food chain represents the hierarchical system of organisms dependent on each other for food. Insects are at the base of many food chains, serving as prey for small animals, which are then eaten by larger animals. The speaker points out that humans are indirectly consuming insects through this chain, but also argues that we could directly consume insects for greater efficiency.

💡Mindset

Mindset refers to the attitudes or beliefs that shape behavior. The speaker explains that the reason many people in Western cultures don't eat insects is due to a cultural mindset that views them as unappetizing or strange. However, with changing perceptions, insects could become a regular part of diets in the future, as they already are in many parts of the world.

Highlights

Insects make up 80% of all animal species on Earth, with an estimated 6 million species.

In terms of biomass, insects far outweigh humans on the planet, making it 'a planet of insects.'

Insects contribute approximately $57 billion to the U.S. economy annually, primarily through services like pollination and pest control.

Insects pollinate a third of all fruits consumed by humans, playing a vital role in agriculture.

More than 1,000 species of insects are eaten around the world, offering a vast variety of edible options compared to the limited number of mammal species consumed.

People unknowingly consume up to 500 grams of insects annually through processed foods like tomato soup, peanut butter, and chocolate.

Cochineal, a natural dye derived from insects, is commonly used in red-colored food products like surimi sticks and Campari.

By 2050, the global population is expected to reach 9 billion, requiring a 70% increase in agricultural production to meet food demands.

Meat production is highly inefficient, with a 10-to-1 feed-to-meat ratio for beef compared to a 10-to-9 ratio for locusts.

Insects produce significantly less manure and greenhouse gases than livestock, making them a more environmentally friendly protein source.

Insects are as nutritious as traditional meats, offering comparable levels of protein, fats, vitamins, and calories.

Insect farming has the potential to address global food shortages more sustainably than livestock farming.

Many cultures already consider insects a delicacy, including regions like Laos and China, where people eat insects for taste, not just necessity.

Shrimps, crabs, and crayfish, which are widely accepted as delicacies, are closely related to insects, with locusts referred to as 'shrimp of the land.'

The speaker predicts that insects will soon be available in supermarkets and become a regular part of diets by 2020.

Transcripts

Okay, I'm going to show you

again something about our diets.

And I would like to know what the audience is,

and so who of you ever ate insects?

That's quite a lot.

(Laughter)

But still, you're not representing

the overall population of the Earth.

(Laughter)

Because there's 80 percent out there that really eats insects.

But this is quite good.

Why not eat insects? Well first, what are insects?

Insects are animals that walk around on six legs.

And here you see just a selection.

There's six million species of insects on this planet,

six million species.

There's a few hundreds of mammals --

six million species of insects.

In fact, if we count all the individual organisms,

we would come at much larger numbers.

In fact, of all animals on Earth,

of all animal species,

80 percent walks on six legs.

But if we would count all the individuals,

and we take an average weight of them,

it would amount to something like 200 to 2,000 kilograms

for each of you and me on Earth.

That means that in terms of biomass,

insects are more abundant than we are,

and we're not on a planet of men,

but we're on a planet of insects.

Insects are not only there in nature,

but they also are involved in our economy,

usually without us knowing.

There was an estimation,

a conservative estimation, a couple of years ago

that the U.S. economy

benefited by 57 billion

dollars per year.

It's a number -- very large --

a contribution to the economy of the United States for free.

And so I looked up what the economy was paying

for the war in Iraq

in the same year.

It was 80 billion U.S. dollars.

Well we know that that

was not a cheap war.

So insects, just for free,

contribute to the economy of the United States

with about the same order of magnitude,

just for free, without everyone knowing.

And not only in the States,

but in any country, in any economy.

What do they do?

They remove dung, they pollinate our crops.

A third of all the fruits that we eat

are all a result

of insects taking care of the reproduction of plants.

They control pests,

and they're food for animals.

They're at the start of food chains.

Small animals eat insects.

Even larger animals eat insects.

But the small animals that eat insects

are being eaten by larger animals,

still larger animals.

And at the end of the food chain, we are eating them as well.

There's quite a lot of people that are eating insects.

And here you see me

in a small, provincial town in China, Lijiang --

about two million inhabitants.

If you go out for dinner, like in a fish restaurant,

where you can select which fish you want to eat,

you can select which insects you would like to eat.

And they prepare it in a wonderful way.

And here you see me enjoying a meal

with caterpillars, locusts,

bee pupae -- delicacies.

And you can eat something new everyday.

There's more than 1,000 species of insects

that are being eaten all around the globe.

That's quite a bit more

than just a few mammals that we're eating,

like a cow or a pig

or a sheep.

More than 1,000 species --

an enormous variety.

And now you may think, okay,

in this provincial town in China they're doing that, but not us.

Well we've seen already that quite some of you

already ate insects maybe occasionally,

but I can tell you that every one of you

is eating insects, without any exception.

You're eating at least

500 grams per year.

What are you eating?

Tomato soup, peanut butter,

chocolate, noodles --

any processed food that you're eating

contains insects,

because insects are here all around us,

and when they're out there in nature

they're also in our crops.

Some fruits get some insect damage.

Those are the fruits, if they're tomato,

that go to the tomato soup.

If they don't have any damage, they go to the grocery.

And that's your view of a tomato.

But there's tomatoes that end up in a soup,

and as long as they meet

the requirements of the food agency,

there can be all kinds of things in there,

no problem.

In fact, why would we put these balls in the soup,

there's meat in there anyway?

(Laughter)

In fact, all our processed foods

contain more proteins

than we would be aware of.

So anything is a good protein source already.

Now you may say,

"Okay, so we're eating 500 grams just by accident."

We're even doing this on purpose.

In a lot of food items that we have --

I have only two items

here on the slide --

pink cookies or surimi sticks

or, if you like, Campari --

a lot of our food products that are of a red color

are dyed with a natural dye.

The surimi sticks

[of] crabmeat, or is being sold as crab meat,

is white fish

that's being dyed with cochineal.

Cochineal is a product

of an insect that lives off these cacti.

It's being produced in large amounts,

150 to 180 metric tons per year

in the Canary Islands in Peru,

and it's big business.

One gram of cochineal

costs about 30 euros.

One gram of gold

is 30 euros.

So it's a very precious thing

that we're using to dye our foods.

Now the situation in the world is going to change

for you and me, for everyone on this Earth.

The human population is growing very rapidly

and is growing exponentially.

Where, at the moment, we have

something between six and seven billion people,

it will grow to about nine billion

in 2050.

That means that we have a lot more mouths to feed,

and this is something that worries more and more people.

There was an FAO conference last October

that was completely devoted to this.

How are we going to feed this world?

And if you look at the figures up there,

it says that we have a third more mouths to feed,

but we need an agricultural production increase

of 70 percent.

And that's especially because this world population

is increasing,

and it's increasing, not only in numbers,

but we're also getting wealthier,

and anyone that gets wealthier starts to eat more

and also starts to eat more meat.

And meat, in fact, is something

that costs a lot

of our agricultural production.

Our diet consists, [in] some part, of animal proteins,

and at the moment, most of us here

get it from livestock,

from fish, from game.

And we eat quite a lot of it.

In the developed world it's on average

80 kilograms per person per year,

which goes up to 120

in the United States

and a bit lower in some other countries,

but on average 80 kilograms

per person per year.

In the developing world it's much lower.

It's 25 kilograms per person per year.

But it's increasing enormously.

In China in the last 20 years,

it increased from 20 to 50,

and it's still increasing.

So if a third of the world population

is going to increase its meat consumption

from 25 to 80 on average,

and a third of the world population

is living in China and in India,

we're having an enormous demand on meat.

And of course, we are not there to say

that's only for us, it's not for them.

They have the same share that we have.

Now to start with, I should say

that we are eating way too much meat

in the Western world.

We could do with much, much less --

and I know, I've been a vegetarian for a long time,

and you can easily do without anything.

You'll get proteins in any kind of food anyway.

But then there's a lot of problems

that come with meat production,

and we're being faced with that more and more often.

The first problem that we're facing is human health.

Pigs are quite like us.

They're even models in medicine,

and we can even transplant organs from a pig to a human.

That means that pigs also share diseases with us.

And a pig disease,

a pig virus, and a human virus

can both proliferate,

and because of their kind of reproduction,

they can combine and produce a new virus.

This has happened in the Netherlands in the 1990s

during the classical swine fever outbreak.

You get a new disease that can be deadly.

We eat insects -- they're so distantly related from us

that this doesn't happen.

So that's one point for insects.

(Laughter)

And there's the conversion factor.

You take 10 kilograms of feed,

you can get one kilogram of beef,

but you can get nine kilograms of locust meat.

So if you would be an entrepreneur,

what would you do?

With 10 kilograms of input,

you can get either one or nine kg. of output.

So far we're taking

the one, or up to five kilograms of output.

We're not taking the bonus yet.

We're not taking the nine kilograms of output yet.

So that's two points for insects.

(Laughter)

And there's the environment.

If we take 10 kilograms of food --

(Laughter)

and it results in one kilogram of beef,

the other nine kilograms are waste,

and a lot of that is manure.

If you produce insects, you have less manure

per kilogram of meat that you produce.

So less waste.

Furthermore, per kilogram of manure,

you have much, much less ammonia

and fewer greenhouse gases

when you have insect manure

than when you have cow manure.

So you have less waste,

and the waste that you have is not as environmental malign

as it is with cow dung.

So that's three points for insects.

(Laughter)

Now there's a big "if," of course,

and it is if insects produce meat

that is of good quality.

Well there have been all kinds of analyses

and in terms of protein, or fat, or vitamins,

it's very good.

In fact, it's comparable

to anything we eat as meat at the moment.

And even in terms of calories, it is very good.

One kilogram of grasshoppers

has the same amount of calories

as 10 hot dogs, or six Big Macs.

So that's four points for insects.

(Laughter)

I can go on,

and I could make many more points for insects,

but time doesn't allow this.

So the question is, why not eat insects?

I gave you at least four arguments in favor.

We'll have to.

Even if you don't like it,

you'll have to get used to this

because at the moment,

70 percent of all our agricultural land

is being used to produce livestock.

That's not only the land

where the livestock is walking and feeding,

but it's also other areas

where the feed is being produced and being transported.

We can increase it a bit

at the expense of rainforests,

but there's a limitation very soon.

And if you remember that we need to increase

agricultural production by 70 percent,

we're not going to make it that way.

We could much better change

from meat, from beef,

to insects.

And then 80 percent of the world

already eats insects,

so we are just a minority --

in a country like the U.K., the USA,

the Netherlands, anywhere.

On the left-hand side, you see a market in Laos

where they have abundantly present

all kinds of insects that you choose for dinner for the night.

On the right-hand side you see a grasshopper.

So people there are eating them,

not because they're hungry,

but because they think it's a delicacy.

It's just very good food.

You can vary enormously.

It has many benefits.

In fact, we have delicacy

that's very much like this grasshopper:

shrimps, a delicacy

being sold at a high price.

Who wouldn't like to eat a shrimp?

There are a few people who don't like shrimp,

but shrimp, or crabs,

or crayfish,

are very closely related.

They are delicacies.

In fact, a locust is a "shrimp" of the land,

and it would make very good into our diet.

So why are we not eating insects yet?

Well that's just a matter of mindset.

We're not used to it,

and we see insects as these organisms that are very different from us.

That's why we're changing the perception of insects.

And I'm working very hard with my colleague, Arnold van Huis,

in telling people what insects are,

what magnificent things they are,

what magnificent jobs they do in nature.

And in fact, without insects,

we would not be here in this room,

because if the insects die out,

we will soon die out as well.

If we die out, the insects will continue very happily.

(Laughter)

So we have to get used to the idea of eating insects.

And some might think, well they're not yet available.

Well they are.

There are entrepreneurs in the Netherlands that produce them,

and one of them is here in the audience,

Marian Peeters, who's in the picture.

I predict that later this year, you'll get them in the supermarkets --

not visible, but as animal protein

in the food.

And maybe by 2020,

you'll buy them just knowing that this is an insect that you're going to eat.

And they're being made in the most wonderful ways.

A Dutch chocolate maker.

(Music)

(Applause)

So there's even a lot of design to it.

(Laughter)

Well in the Netherlands, we have an innovative Minister of Agriculture,

and she puts the insects on the menu

in her restaurant in her ministry.

And when she got all the Ministers of Agriculture of the E.U.

over to the Hague recently,

she went to a high-class restaurant,

and they ate insects all together.

It's not something that is a hobby of mine.

It's really taken off the ground.

So why not eat insects?

You should try it yourself.

A couple of years ago, we had 1,750 people all together

in a square in Wageningen town,

and they ate insects at the same moment,

and this was still big, big news.

I think soon it will not be big news anymore when we all eat insects,

because it's just a normal way of doing.

So you can try it yourself today,

and I would say, enjoy.

And I'm going to show to Bruno some first tries,

and he can have the first bite.

(Applause)

Bruno Giussani: Look at them first. Look at them first.

Marcel Dicke: It's all protein.

BG: That's exactly the same [one] you saw in the video actually.

And it looks delicious.

They just make it [with] nuts or something.

MD: Thank you.

(Applause)