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Critter Cuisine

By Andrea Ordonez

They’re creepy, crawly, and … way healthier than a steak.

Within the last decade, insect protein has slowly emerged in the food world as a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional sources of meat. In fact, according to Global Market Insight, the edible bug industry is projected to reach a market value of $1.5 billion by 2026. But despite all this promise, whenever I told my very supportive friends, I’d be scarfing down scorpions and seasoned worms for you, dear reader, I was greeted with a whole lot of cringe.

While indulging on a plate of crickets seems more bro-y or Bear Grylls, women have actually done a lot to push the edible insects industry forward, says Simone Traverse, sales and marketing operations manager at Aspire Food Group, a business-to-business ingredient company focused on processing crickets for products suited for pets and people.

“Women have always played a role in insect agriculture, be it by gathering insects directly from the wild as is still done in many parts of the world or in innovating the next tech that will allow for optimal indoor insect growth and rearing,” Simone says. “While in the past, women’s roles may have limited them to making nutritious meals for the family, now you can find us in the boardroom, C-suite and frontlines of this rapidly developing field.”

Compared to beef, pork, and even poultry, bugs possess higher percentages of vitamins and minerals and a significantly smaller environmental footprint. For those all about saving the planet but they just can’t get over the “yuck” factor of eating a crawler, industry experts say to start by throwing bug protein into things you already enjoy.

“A lot of it has to do with how you present it to people,” says Matt Beck, CEO of Hoppy Planet Foods. “The first product we ever launched was our Chocolate Chirp Cookies… If we’re gonna take a novel or different ingredient that people aren’t used to eating, that we know we can put it into something and it’ll taste delicious, what should we do? And we said, well, what’s the most common denominator? Well, a freakin’ chocolate chip cookie…”

We at One To Know actually tried those freakin’ chocolate chip cookies from Hoppy Planet Foods. And while I surprisingly preferred the seasoned worms that tasted like cheese puffs, be sure to check out on TikTok what others on the team thought of this introductory product to bug protein.

While these cookies and other bug proteinbased products are mainly found online, there are a few places in the area that offer chapulines (aka grasshoppers) as an add-on. The most prominent in Fort Worth is Tex-Mex hot spot Don Artemio, where you can add chapulines, that’s Spanish for grasshoppers, to an already protein-packed guac.

SCAN THE QR CODE to watch OTK magazine contributors, friends and family eat some yummy critters.