What's on the Menu In 20 Years Time?

I am sure many of you will be sitting down at 9 o'clock every night watching the tedious I'm a Celebrity get me out of here and cringing at some of the bushtucker trials. One trial in particular always seem to initiate more interest than any other trial: eating all sorts of exotic and quite frankly disgusting animal body parts.

I can here your minds racing now wondering what has this got to do with something problematic in the world today. Well we have been warned several times that with the expanding world's population we could be served up insects in a few years time - to put it simpler with the population now reaching over seven billion there isn't enough generic meat to go round everyone.

I can imagine a lot of you are quite skirmish at the thought of this, although upscale restaurants are now beginning to serve insects such as scorpions and grasshoppers -the idea has taken off in France.

More people fear that a sight like this will be a common site in a few decades in Britain. Picture courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

 

So what exactly is the problem with eating bugs? This is a question I cannot truly answer, there is so much opposition against this type of farming but it makes so much sense: it is cheaper to keep, transport, look after and sell bugs than any other type of meat. Not only that but eating bugs is so much more healthier than any meat produce.

If we were brought up eating bugs like people are in China then there wouldn't be an outrage - I'd just be considered the norm like eating pork for example.

What is so unappealing about eating bugs? Eating sushi was unappealing at one time now it seems to be taking the world by storm. If people were blind folded and given insects to eat I can guarantee they wouldn't know the difference between the meat and the insects.

The FSA did say the idea of a franchise like 'Yo! Grasshopper' is perhaps a long way off, it said to the Guardian: "Although whole insects may be niche products in the UK, the use of purified or partially purified insect protein could have greater commercial viability, if a reliable source could be identified."

This prospect of eating bugs has even been addressed by the U.N and have even given a list of eight bugs to try that are popular in other countries.



Bugs in central Asia in particular are in high, but controlling, demand. Picture courtesy of Nationalgeographic.co.uk.

Let us not forget beetles do appear in the colouring of sweets such as skittles and smarties so why is there a non-existent up roar.

With the world demand too much meat than it can supply we need a solution to this. We can't continue like this. Myself I'd eat bugs, a nice fried locust salad is supposed to be a big déclassé in many parts of the world.

So here is what will happen - bugs and insects will become a peasant food so to speak. When insects and bugs are introduced into supermarkets meat prices will soar so much that the poorer people in the world will not be able to afford what will be known as a luxury food.