Anyone for sirkkaleipä?
December 8, 2017 8:52 AM   Subscribe

A "Gold rush" for cricket snack startups as Finland legalises edible insects. At the beginning of November, Finland's food safety authority allowed the sale of insects as food. Entocube is a Finnish company that builds insect farms out of shipping containers, and established Finnish food giant Fazer has already begun selling bread made from cricket flour (sirkkaleipä). Insects as a food source previously here and here.

Britain, Belgium, Denmark,Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria also allow the farming and sale of insects as food. The European Food Safety Authority: Risk profile related to production and consumption of insects as food and feed [large pdf]
posted by mandolin conspiracy (34 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
I had understood "cricket flour" as merely a fancy name for "cricket powder". Is this not the case? Do crickets have... gluten?
posted by inconstant at 8:56 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hm, Wikipedia seems to suggest that my original understanding was accurate. In that case I am instantly less interested, since it's not really "bread made from a new kind of flour" and more "same old bread, just with extra bits".
posted by inconstant at 8:59 AM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


I've always thought bugs as a food source was a good idea, but I have questions.
It seems like you'd really have to know where they came from, you wouldn't want to buy generic bug parts from the discount store. There are a lot of types of bugs in the world.
posted by bongo_x at 9:04 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yes, it will be funny when the FDA has to regulate how many fly and roach parts will be allowable in your bag of cricket parts.

I’m all for insects as a source of food, but it’s too late for me to actually want to eat them. I’ll leave that for the younger generation, like I do SnapChat and watching YouTubers.
posted by ejs at 9:15 AM on December 8, 2017 [7 favorites]


"Alright, who's going to be the first to try this?"

*crickets*
posted by ZenMasterThis at 9:31 AM on December 8, 2017 [12 favorites]


I'll stick with my Chiba City krill patties, thank you. More Omega 3s.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:40 AM on December 8, 2017


I've had several Chapul cricket bars. The peanut butter and chocolate is my favorite, but the Aztec Coffee one isn't bad either. The Thai and Matcha weren't my thing, but weren't horrible either.

As much as I liked them, they haven't replaced Clif Bars as they're a bit more expensive than Clif Bars, and not quite as calorie dense.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


A review of cricket muffins:

If you’re having trouble conjuring cricket flavor in your mind, it’s like an earthy, bitter dirt flavor with a hint of “wrong.” The muffin batter does its best to mask that horror, but it’s still there. Behind the pleasant clove and nutmeg notes, the icky basement insect notes lurk. And worse, they stay in your mouth to haunt you until you eat real food. And whatever you do, don't burp.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:00 AM on December 8, 2017 [10 favorites]


As we say here in Minnesota: ish.
posted by Autumnheart at 10:07 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


By 2050, there will be more than 9 billion people on the planet. The United Nations estimates that to feed everyone, sustainable food production will have to increase by 70 percent, and bugs will need to be a critical source of protein.

Joseph Yoon, founder of Dinner Echo and developer of the festival, not only wants Americans to get accustomed to eating edible insects, but he wants children to get in on the action. This is why, in addition to organizing a number of panels, speakers and insect-laden gourmet meals for adults, he asked Robert Nathan Allen, president of Little Herds (a nonprofit that is educating the public about "feeding the future with edible insects"), to assist with developing an all-day children's program at t.d.b. Brooklyn, a neighborhood lounge and outdoor beer garden.

Insects are healthy. Very healthy. Containing about the same amount of protein as beef, pork and chicken, they also contain a lot of iron, B12 and calcium, as well as all nine essential amino acids. In addition to offering a potential solution to global food insecurity, they're also planet-friendly, requiring less water, energy, land and feed than most traditional protein sources.
At Bug-Eating Festival, Kids Crunch Down On The Food Of The Future (September 14, 2017, NPR covering the Brooklyn Bugs festival).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:09 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Exo cricket bars are excellent.
posted by BrashTech at 10:09 AM on December 8, 2017


inconstant: Hm, Wikipedia seems to suggest that my original understanding was accurate. In that case I am instantly less interested, since it's not really "bread made from a new kind of flour" and more "same old bread, just with extra bits".

Sounds about right: Bitty Foods founder Megan Miller, who spoke passionately (YouTube) about eating bugs at a TEDx, via NPR:
Miller says cricket flour is a confusing misnomer, often used interchangeably for ground crickets, which, when used alone, are not a functional baking ingredient.

"We found that people didn't really understand that you can't really throw powdered crickets in with some butter and sugar and make a cookie," she says. "It's going to be disgusting."
Seems more like a protein powder than a flour then.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:14 AM on December 8, 2017


I though this was going to be about meat pies and tomato sauce.
posted by Talez at 10:27 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


and whatever you do, don't burp.

The older I get, the less I feel competent to follow this particular direction. Don't get me wrong, I can do it very discreetly, but the return with greater intensity of flavors that weren't awesome going down is not a charming side effect. And "icky basement" is one of my least favorite flavor notes.

So, nope.
posted by allthinky at 10:33 AM on December 8, 2017


"Compared to the other muffins, the cricket muffins stood out as not being food"
posted by Ausamor at 10:43 AM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


As a scientifically-minded individual, I want taste tests to be double-blind ABX tests, because I think perception of "not food" can ruin the taste of anything. And as noted in a recent insect-related thread, elsewhere in the world insects are delicacies, in so much that a locust swarm [in] Nigeria [is treated] as an exciting opportunity to feast.

Also, anything's better with chocolate. I ate some insects at a demonstration of some sort at the natural history museum in my home town, and they didn't seem all that bad.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:50 AM on December 8, 2017 [3 favorites]


You get these "Oh no! It am horrible!" stories whenever there is a new-to-some-people ingredient. 99% of the time, either the food product has been made by someone who doesn't have the hang of how to use it yet, or the person eating it is having a psychological reaction. People have been eating insects throughout all of human history, often, as filthy light thief notes, as delicacies. I doubt that they are inedibly disgusting.
posted by kyrademon at 10:59 AM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


As an entomologist, I have had many, many opportunities over the years to try various foodstuffs made with insects. They run the gamut from gross and inedible, to huh I guess that was okay, to I can't tell that has bugs in it. I think the problem in that cricket powder muffin article is that it was probably a mistake to just plunk cricket powder into a recipe not designed for it and hope for the best.

Despite having purposely eaten many different types of insects in many different foods, I can definitely say they are not something I care to put into my regular diet.
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:08 AM on December 8, 2017 [4 favorites]


I’m all for insects as a source of food, but it’s too late for me to actually want to eat them.

That's where I am. I know it's not rational; I eat crabs, hell I rip them open with my bare hands and eat the guts and goop. There's absolutely no reason why eating insects should bother me, but I can't get myself to actually want to.
posted by tavella at 11:28 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


You mean people haven't had chapulinas before? Advertised really are provincial.
posted by happyroach at 11:57 AM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


Bleu cheese is kinda nasty if you aren't from the western world. I remember reading about native Americans (wanna say Central America) harvesting mayfly larvae in huge nets and smashing them into a paste, which was consumed for protein.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 12:03 PM on December 8, 2017


The fried Oaxacan ones (linked just above) are great for snacking. Good flavor, nice crunchy texture sort of like popcorn, nothing icky about it. I’m dubious about just adding cricket powder to recipes; I have visions of those horrid vegan nut loafs that used to show up at every potluck.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:04 PM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


Wouldn't easily raised insects, such as meal worms, be well suited as protein for animal fodder? Low grade plant material transformed sounds better than importing soy.
posted by bouvin at 12:20 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


A couple of days ago I dropped by my wife’s workplace and joined her for lunch at a nearby food court. She brought along her own lunch of bone broth and cricket crackers but that seemed a little too conceptually post-apocalyptic for my tastes, so I had a chicken burger.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:59 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


You wouldn't just plunk a fistful of dehydrated chicken powder into a muffin recipe, either! What the hell was she expecting? Why do people keep adding insects to candy and cake as if that were a natural first step to approaching a new meat product?
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:22 PM on December 8, 2017 [8 favorites]


ricochet biscuit: lunch of bone broth and cricket crackers but that seemed a little too conceptually post-apocalyptic for my tastes

Post-apocalyptic? Everything old is new again -- now I'm thinking how awesome it would be for a team of food historians to develop a chronology of food norms around the world. For instance, sipping warm, rich broth made from healthy bones is something people have enjoyed since the beginning of recorded history. Talk about tradition. In fact, delicious stocks were on the menu at the very first restaurants –early inns served up broth to comfort cold and weary travelers. (Bare Bones Broth blog) And if you think eating insects is gross, you may be in the cultural minority. Throughout history, people have relished insects as food. Today, many cultures still do. (2004 NatGeo article via Google archive, because the direct link keeps refreshing to another page)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:22 PM on December 8, 2017 [2 favorites]


never so glad to be allergic to shellfish
posted by poffin boffin at 2:58 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've made cricket povatica! You don't want to bake with *only* cricket flour, it doesn't have much rise, but it's pleasantly nutty and laden with protein, so think of it as a partial substitution. Quite good! I used a cup and a half in the nut filling. And whole crickets or cricket crumbles taste much like tiny toasted shrimps. Perfect in wraps or sprinkled on salads like fried onions. They're basically crustaceans.
posted by fritillary at 3:47 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


If you could teach a cricket to live and frolic in the ocean, hanging out with the shrimp, then I'll be interested.
posted by Napoleonic Terrier at 6:01 PM on December 8, 2017


When I was visiting Thailand I happened across a stall at a night market selling meal worms that had been deep fried with basil. The flavor was nutty, like cashews, and the texture was crispy, similar to those cream wafer cookies. Once I got over my initial squick factor it was pretty good and I'd happily eat it again as a snack food.
posted by Feyala at 6:53 PM on December 8, 2017


Have to say, this recent run of Finnish-themed posts is making it difficult for me to maintain my stereotyped, one-dimensional view of the country and her people.

Or "thanks" as it's usually spelled.
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 8:32 PM on December 8, 2017 [1 favorite]


The fried Oaxacan ones (linked just above) are great for snacking. Good flavor, nice crunchy texture sort of like popcorn, nothing icky about it.

Seriously, I had a jar of chili lime chapulines recently and they are the BEST - crunchy, savory, and flavorful. They’re also crazy healthy, with the best calorie-to-protein ratio that I’ve seen in a snack this side of whey powder. If they weren’t so expensive in the states, I’d eat them constantly.
posted by Itaxpica at 10:36 PM on December 8, 2017


I've eaten a lot of green ants (Oecophylla smaragdina, Google says) particularly when I spent some time living in the Tiwi islands as a high-school student. They're tasty enough and if you're not doing anything else and they're in front of you... I've occasionally extended that to the odd black ant too.
Always kill them quickly in your hand or your mouth so they don't bite you inside your mouth.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 5:22 AM on December 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


I had crickets roasted in spices down in Oz a few years back. Remains one of my favorite food memories – the earthy taste of the crickets was the perfect balance to the spice. Plus, crunchy!
posted by fraula at 6:06 AM on December 9, 2017


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