At the downtown farmers market in Charleston, a nice lady stumbled upon our booth and read all of the material that we had up educating people on entomophagy and how we incorporate crickets into our product. She then proceeded to sample a couple of chocolate "chirp" cookies that we had out and then gave us an "oh crap" look! It was in that moment that we realized that she had no idea what she was eating. It happens often, especially when we have out our chocolate "chirp" cookies to sample. Who wouldn't go for it, they look and taste relatively the same! However, this particular lady pieced everything together at the last moment and told us that she was a 50 year old vegan.
Since she read all of the material, and saw that the average person eats about 1 lb of insects per year, mostly mixed into other foods she wasn't as taken back at the idea that she just ate a living thing. She then put a big smile on her face and said, "well you know what, that was probably the best protein that I have had in a while." Then she took another sample and walked away. We didn't quite know what to make of it, we always have a lot of material out and specifically say "cricket cookies" when people sample them, in order to avoid any shellfish allergies and or personal preference. It got us thinking, do people who are deep into their commitment to be vegetarian or vegan consider eating insects as an alternative source of protein? The answer really depends on your reasons for being vegetarian, whether it is the sustainability aspect or the humane aspect then crickets check off your list for edible foods! Insects are the worlds most sustainable source of animal protein. They also, naturally live in dense quarters so there is no stress caused to the insect and they are put into a sleep like state before they are cleaned and roasted called diapause. So the question is, if you are vegan or vegetarian would you consider eating insects as a source of protein?
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