How Soon Will We Be Able to Eat Insects At Our Favorite Bars and Restaurants?
Bon appétit or “Bug appétit?”
In the not too distant future, we may be wishing “bug appétit,’ to our friends as the plate of our favorite insect dishes is served.
How soon might we utter these words as we eat insects in our favorite restaurants or bars?
Well, as early as 2019, an article entitled Bug Appétit! 5 Restaurants Serving Insects for an Adventurous Meal, pointed out that some U.S.-based restaurants were already serving “insects such as ants, grasshoppers, and crickets.” The restaurants featured in the article served menu items such as “Chapuline Tacos.”
Chef José Andrés featured in the article “sautéed “chapulines,” (grasshoppers) with “shallots, tequila, and guacamole.” Another New York based restaurant served “black ant guacamole.” This same restaurant served up “chapulines,” too, this time “grasshopper-crusted shrimp,” and “Yucca-manchego grasshopper croquettes.” Moreover, “toasted chapulines, avocado purée, garlic epazote, and lime juice with “sal de gusano (worm salt) in salad dressings and chicatana (ants) in salsas,” were featured on menus.
So, it seems some people are already enjoying these new found delicacies.
As the article points out, there are already places in the world where eating insects like this is common. Where people already consume their protein like this. Chefs in these U.S.-based restaurants are merely riding a wave of the future, taking inspiration from cuisine that is already familiar to those living in Mexico, for example.
While the chefs might be getting creative with how they serve the insects, inspiring adventurous customers to try these specials on the menu, the truth is that insects as a form of alternative food proteins is something that food industry trend watchers have their eyes on too.
An article from the consulting firm McKinsey “Alternate Proteins: the race for market share is on,” points out that “consumer interest in non-meat based protein options is increasing. The reasons why, say the McKinsey analysts, include such things as “increased consumer interest in health, price, and ethical considerations (such as where meat is sourced from and animal welfare) around different types of protein.”
So, while insects are one alternative form of protein, there are others too. Eate Digital featured future food trend possibilities in The Dish article Why Embracing a Plant-based Menu Matters and also in the article Our Future Kitchens – Will Bioreactors Sit Next to Coffeemakers Soon? So, in addition to exploring plant-based offerings we also considered the possibility that we’ll likely be eating lab grown meat – or meat grown from cell-based cultures in bioreactors, in the future, too.
We’re not the only leaders thinking about this though.
The article Making Meat Affordable: Progress Since the $330,000 Lab-Grown Burger calls attention to the fact that “The price of cell-cultured meat has decreased from $330,000 to about €9 or $9.80 per burger. Prices are falling because the scale of production is improving, and materials cost less.
The same article suggests that more than 70 companies worldwide (companies like Beyond Burger and Impossible Meat you've probably heard of) are working to maximize the process of growing this cell-based meat to meet the projected demand for “more affordable food,” and “world hunger for 811 million undernourished,” and “facing moderate or severe food insecurity.”
So while some chefs may have their eyes on these as menu features, others are looking to serious global challenges as inspiration to welcome these as future protein sources.
But it's not only insects and cell-based meat cultures, there are other sources of protein to watch out for too. Mckinsey reminds that plant proteins will continue to play a significant role in diets. Plant proteins include things like “protein-rich seeds,” like “soy…pea…chickpea, rapeseed, and lupin, among others.” Just as soy lattes have emerged as a drink of choice for consumers, as alternative plant proteins make their way into our diets, we will likely see more new uses for each.
Lastly, McKinsey suggests that in addition to insects, cultured meat and plant proteins, there is one additional protein source to keep our eyes on. This is “Mycoprotein.” The article suggests that this protein is derived from “fungal biomass, commonly known as mold.” It turns out that this such “Fungi,” is “high in fiber,” with “limited carbohydrates, and no cholesterol.”
Moldy tacos anyone?
Well… that isn’t likely to sound palatable to many. Some studies have shown that “the unfamiliarity with insect-based food is a hindrance for consumption and market development.” [Roma, Rocco; Palmisano, Giovanni Ottomano, De Boni, Annalisa. “Insects as Novel Food: A Consumer Attitude Analysis through the Dominance-Based Rough Set Approach.” Foods 2020] And furthermore that factors like “neophobia and reactions of disgust [and] individual characteristics and socio-cultural background, and risk-perceptions for health and production Technologies,” all play a role in whether people may embrace eating insects. The same article points out that in the European Union in some places the practice even needs to be made legal!
So, things like insects (or mold) may take some time for people to embrace.
Mycoprotein may not get sautéed like the “chapulines,” but forward thinking chefs and restaurateurs are likely to consider how this protein source might find its way into healthy and desirable menu items for the future.
As always, adventurous trend-setters will likely set the way for others to follow, once the chefs dream up inspiring ways to serve these important future sources of protein.
All in all, alternative protein trends are important trends to watch for the future.
How soon might we say “Bug appétit,” at our favorite restaurant or bar?
Some are already doing that, it seems.
Perhaps as the trend catches on, more of us will have the opportunity to do so.
As the alternative protein movement continues to take hold, we’ll watch more and differentiated proteins enter our diets of the future.
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Shannon Mullen O’Keefe and Mark A. Irwin contributed to this article.
