Cricket Flour: Well Worth Stomaching

3. How Did This Trend Start?

Humans have been eating insects for thousands of years, and many cultures still consider them a staple or even a delicacy. However, Western culture has long held a deep aversion toward the critters; considering insect consumption alien or primitive. The prominence of sedentary agriculture and industrialization drew people from naturally derived foods such as insects towards favoring domesticated and processed food products.

An Ecology of Food and Nutrition study published in 2014 discovered that education and opportunities to sample insect foods could help change people's attitude about eating insects. Other market drivers are upping the demand for cricket flour. Declining seafood resources, disease-transfer risks, sustainability concerns regarding meat sources, and dietary trends encourage this move to favor edible insect options. The approval of popular fitness and health experts also prompts demand for products such as cricket flour.