In 2005, a United Nations report was released outlining ways that bug consumption could solve a rapidly expanding population. Since the report’s release, the market for edible insects in the U.S. has increased by more than 40%, The Huffington Post reports.
Getting Americans to add insects to their daily menu might be tough. Programs like Fear Factor, a wild stunt show that regularly featured exotic insects being ingested by contestants, have made consuming crickets and their ilk about as appealing as sitting in a hot car, during the summer, with the windows rolled up.
Gina Louise Hunter, a cultural anthropologist at Illinois State University, offers advice for people who continue to turn up their nose at the tiny treats. “The taste isn’t terribly unfamiliar, or strong — it’s almost not there. We eat lots of things that are far more gross as a concept, and potentially pathogenic. Lobster, for example, is a bottom feeder and eats carrion,” she told The Huffington Post.
It does seem that Americans are coming around. Recently, the Seattle Mariners began selling a Mexican dish of grasshoppers at games and sales continue to be strong.
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