According to the British "Daily Mail" and "Daily Telegraph" reported on June 2, researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico found that at least 1 13 countries in the world eat insects, and these "ingredients" are as many as 1700.
In Mexico, people can eat fried grasshoppers and silkworm chrysalis in restaurants; Colombia has the custom of eating ants. People grind these insects into powder and scatter them on bread. In Papua New Guinea, moths, dragonflies and beetles are also baked and become popular foods. In many countries in Southeast Asia, fried insects are also very popular in supermarkets as a snack.
Researchers say that many insects contain a lot of protein, and some of them have more than twice the protein content of meat and fish. In addition, important elements such as unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals are also rich in these insects. Eating these insects can not only promote health, but also eliminate pests and reduce the damage to the environment. In Thailand, when the government can't effectively control the number of locusts, people are encouraged to kill them by eating.
However, researchers hope that these "insect snacks" will become healthy substitutes for junk food containing a lot of fat in supermarkets in the future. Patrick, a staff member of FAO? Douste said that if people want to attract people's attention to insect food, businesses need to use some skills to make the appearance of these foods difficult to associate with insects.
Paul Cook, a British chef who is good at cooking novel foods, said that when people see a whole locust or cricket, they should ignore their feelings. These insects are actually very clean and nutritious.
Insect-eating customs around the world
The custom of eating insects has a long history in the world. However, due to cultural differences, religious precepts and other factors, some areas basically do not eat insects, and some even explicitly prohibit eating insects. Generally speaking, all continents in the world have the custom of eating insects, but Asia, Africa and Latin America are particularly prosperous. These areas can be described as "developed" insect-eating areas, while Europe is "developing" insect-eating areas. In Asia, this edible insect is most prevalent in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Viet Nam, and it is also quite common in neighboring Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia and South Korea, including China. India, Sri Lanka and other countries rarely eat insects, either because of religion or because they don't eat animals in the first place.
Thailand has the habit of eating insects since ancient times, especially the Lao people. Eating insects makes them energetic and become an important agricultural labor force. Many researchers are interested in the insect-eating custom in Thailand. In the early 1930s, the British made a special survey to compare the food composition of the Dai and Lao people. It is found that the Dai people eat protein mainly by fish and beans, with a small amount. The basic food of Lao people is similar to that of Dai people, but they often eat insects, which makes up for the shortage of protein. At present, the main insects eaten in Thailand are locusts, crickets, crickets, mantises, cockroaches, bees, ants, moths, termites, dragonflies and flies.
In China, insects have been on the table as delicious food for a long time. As early as 3000 years ago, people began to cook insects. According to Zhou Li Tianguan, ant sauce was used as the emperor's feed at that time. In addition, there are insects such as cicadas and bees for the aristocratic class to enjoy. In the later literature, there are also many records of edible insects. In fact, many insects recorded in these ancient medical books are still regarded as supplements and appear on the table.
Mexico is one of the few countries in the world that eat insects. According to a survey by researchers from the Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, there are as many as 303 species of edible insects in the country. Most of them are consumed by indigenous Indians. In the literature more than 300 years ago, Mexican people's habits of eating aquatic stinkbug, ants and locusts were recorded in detail, especially ants, which were not only delicious food in the ancient Astek Palace, but also the first choice to pay tribute to God in religious celebrations. Until today, in high-end hotels in the city, you can still taste ant dishes, such as fried ants and fried ants, and the price is about 10 US dollars.