In many
countries (Australia, China, Japan, South Africa, Central
Africa, South America, Central America,
India, Indonesia, Mexico, New Guinea, Tanzania, Thailand, Malaysia...), insects are commonly eaten and
highly appreciated for their nutritional value and delicious
taste, even preferred to meat, by more
than 2 billion inhabitants of our planet, for their nutritional
and gastronomic qualities, since the
dawn of history.
In Europe, we eat oysters (raw), shrimps, snails, eggs, and frog's legs.
Why not eat insects ?
Bruno Comby's pioneer nutritional studies started
in the early 1980's, when he started studying the many benefits
of eating insects in different cultures and parts of the world.
He started eating and studying crickets,
locusts and mealworms. Since
then, he has tasted over 400 different species
of insects, has given thousands of presentations and has
developed industrial production systems to produce high quality
insects for food. He has initiated thousands of entomophagic
events around the world.
The most
surprising fact is that if the idea of eating
insects still seems disgusting to many, in
practise, and it is a paradox, the taste of insects, for
those who do eat them, is in fact always considered
delicious and generally preferred to the taste of meat or
fish.
Bruno Comby's book, "Delicieux
insectes", originally published in
1989, presents his early research and experience in the field of
entomophagy (from the Greek : entomos = insects, and phagei = to
eat).
This pioneering book was the object of
considerable interest in the international media (over 1500 TV interviews and
press articles around the world), as well as among the
scientific community, and the general public worldwide (see the
references). It has inspired many
authors, scientists, and cooks, and has initiated the
renaissance of entomophagy in the modern world. Today, in the
USA, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan…, cooks and
restaurants have adapted their menus and adopted Bruno Comby's
insect recipes, and many scientists have confirmed his early
sayings about insect-protein for human nutrition, proposing to farm them to help solve the problem of famine
in the third world.
Today in the United States, in
Canada, in the Netherlands, in Germany, in Japan, and of
course in France, distinguished chefs, cooks
and restaurants have enrichened their menus and apply Bruno
Comby's insect recipees.
In
2008, the United Nations Organization
(UN) and the "Food and Agriculture
Organization" (FAO) (branch of the UN in charge of
nutritional and agricultural questions) officially started supporting
the use of insects as human food.
See the 2008 New York Times article here : http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/magazine/10wwln-essay-t.html?_r=0
Since 2011, the European Union officially supports entomophagy and has
invested 3 millions euros for entomophagic
research: http://www.lexpress.fr/styles/minute-saveurs/l-ue-encourage-a-manger-des-insectes_1027704.html
Entomophagy is now frequently in the headlines, again
supported by the FAO for example
in 2013 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKRUuGeTOg0&feature=player_embedded#!
As the cost of oil and energy rises, relying on
meat to feed 10 billion inhabitants of the
planet in 2050 is clearly not sustainable.
Insects are much
more abundant, cheap, easy to produce,
require much less land surfaces and
are much less energy-intensive than
meat.
We,
at the Bruno Comby institute, are proud to publicize
Bruno's historical leadership as the pioneer of this
ongoing renaissance of entomophagy in the
modern world.