Grasshoppers, caterpillars to be on your dinner plate soon

29 Comments on "Grasshoppers, caterpillars to be on your dinner plate soon"

Davy, Hermann, MO on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 2:14 pm 



Yea, when the first real famine comes we will be consuming mud pies. This article misses the point that insects are not going to be another cuisine item they will be an addition in a time of collapse. Most people are not going to eat insects, algae, or possum unless there is nothing else.

ohanian on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 3:05 pm 



Big Deal! People are even eating grasshoppers in the BIBLE! Just ask John the Baptist. Okay, technically he ate locust and not grasshoppers.

And the aborigines eats witchetty grub which is basically larvae of moths.

Northwest Resident on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 5:03 pm 



I hear that slugs pack a lot of protein and, like Gulf Coast oysters, they slide right down.

As for me and my family/friends, we won’t be eating bugs, we’ll be feeding them to the chickens, collecting the chicken manure and recycling said manure back into the soil for all the nutritional veggies and fruits we are and will be growing.

Davey on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 5:56 pm 



Amen NR, my plans exactly!

GregT on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 6:02 pm 



With 8 billion mouths to feed, I wonder how long it would take to reach ‘peak insects’?

bobinget on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 6:11 pm 



If you resist GMO soybeans because of religious, dietary restrictions better check on what we farmers might be feeding your edible worms.

Introducing a new plant, animal or insect, preservation of human food has always been a tough, emotional sell.
Look up history of canning, flash freezing, freeze drying, irradiation. You will see all the same arguments
presented yesterday against microwave cooking, pressure cookers, even cooking itself.

A changing climate will change diets for younger, (poorer) consumers. Eating genetically modified plants,
specialized insects becomes as normal as sexual equality in North America.

Old age and death brings renewal and change.

My favorite story relates to Vegans who unknowably
ingest thousands of micro insects on their leafy ‘organic’ salad greens daily. Guess if a person can’t see
a face on a little critter it’s okay to get sufficient protein for survival from unwittingly eating bugs.

One method already in use is to ‘sugar coat’ insects with chocolate. Leave it up to our ‘food’ scientists
to make bugs a staple. Soy ‘milk’, rice milk, even pot milk gained popularity while dairy milk farmers get so old they lose interest in 18 hour work days.

Drought has devastated cattle herds in Australia.
Unseasonable freezes killed of thousands of cattle in
America’s West. Overfishing, pollution devastated
the last ‘wild’ fish stocks. Pass the grasshopper crisps.

Norm on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 6:45 pm 



This website drifts too much towards ‘gloom & doom’. I thought this website was about ‘peak oil’ topics? But this article is about eating bugs? Is there no quality control? So how about some graphs making clear the oil production over time, and EROEI, etc? Or is this website only about people who want to live under a log and eat bugs?

Boat on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 6:47 pm 



In a modern world the insects would be processed shaped flavored maybe by robotics and printed. Yummmmmm

Kenz300 on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 6:52 pm 



Too many people and too few resources.

If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.

Endless population growth is not sustainable.

Northwest Resident on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 7:19 pm 



Norm — As far as I can tell, this website is about “peak oil” AND “issues related to peak oil” articles. Food supply is inextricably linked to oil, as you know. Therefore, contemplating a future without oil leads to contemplating a future with much reduced food supply, therefore, contemplating a possible future where people are forced to eat bugs.

Also, from my point of view, a realistic view of our future world as relates to peak oil and its consequences leads to a rational and totally logical sense of “doom and gloom”. A lot of people of course don’t “get” peak oil, they read the articles in Forbes and Bloomberg (etc…) that trumpet the great oil finds and technology that cancels out peak oil as an issue, and they go about their lives as all happy-bots do, totally ignorant of what lies ahead. Surely you aren’t one of those people?

andya on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 7:24 pm 



I’ll be eating organic beef, I’ll even trade you some for a few hours of your labour. As my neighbour said after we had concluded such a deal ‘food is money.’

Norm on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 8:08 pm 



I think that I will go get a half pound Buffalo Burger with Tillamook cheese, crunchy bacon, extra pickles and a side-order of steak-fries. Also bring me a bottle of non-HFCS Ketchup. Wash it all down with a chocolate shake with whipped cream swirl. You guys can order something else, maybe your fried beetle-bugs.

PapaSmurf on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 8:26 pm 



Norm,
This website is for people who are in the fetal position and are looking for others to reinforce their misery.

Silly articles like this really harm the entire energy debate. When people see this junk, they just tune out the Peak Oil topic as BS. That is why nuts like Matt Savinar, MonteQuest and Aaron causes so much harm back in the 2004-2009 time frame. Peak Oil is a serious topic, but the twits on this website cause more harm by their approach to the issue.

I am going out with my kids to get a pizza and catch a movie. No grasshoppers or caterpillars.

Davy, Hermann, MO on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 9:05 pm 



PapaSmurf the point is once you understand the implications of peak oil you move up the ladder. Moving up the ladder is realizing the potential end of industrial man in the near term. The many other systematic risks are then of interest. Peak oil has been turned inside out so there is not much to explore other than watch the numbers. We live in a holistic world that is near a tipping point and peak oil is central to that theme. We still need to watch all the other dynamics that will influence PO above and below ground. I am sorry if you are incapable of moving up that ladder. I call that denial and narrow mindedness. I am sure you have a brain or you would not be here.

peakyeast on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 10:33 pm 



I do not think the article is silly – it clearly shows where we are going – in a more real way than graphs of oil production. It is very real and a result of massive overshoot managed by fossil fuels. Insects are not a solution – it should rather be called a last futile resort made in desperation. Calling it silly is a futile exercise in denying the consequences of industrialisation by fossil fuels and the subsequent decline.

andya on Sun, 9th Mar 2014 11:07 pm 



Norm and Papasmurf, I think the point is that if your only plan is highly processed food from an unsustainable system, You will be the one eating bugs. Those who are ahead of the curve will be eating well. Plenty of good quality land out there, get some and learn how to farm it.

Norm on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 1:27 am 



OK Andya, I am convinced. Where do I spend my $1.2 Million to have the 100 acres 100 miles out of town? Do you commute to it in your Ford F-250 getting 12 mpg? Go into town once a week to get your bags of groceries? (200 mile round trip). I think the survivalists are kidding themselves. They would be lucky to grow a bagful of apples.

I share the concern of peak oil thats why I am here. I don’t think multi-millionaires putting in their ‘survival ranches’ (then driving into town to get groceries) really convinces me of much of anything… other than the survivalist types have too much money and too little common sense.

Makati1 on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 1:53 am 



I love how some of you think you will still have beef and chickens when no one else does…lol. Those will be the first things to be stolen when the SHTF and the grocery stores are empty. You will need a small army to protect them. An army that will need fed.

As for eating insects. They might look like steak when you have not eaten for 3 days.

And, no, they will not be printed by some computer. There will be no computers/internet by that time.

And the GMO corporations will be long gone. As will most heirloom seeds/plants. What will you do if you cannot buy seed? Eat insects, until they too are gone. Winter in the North or far South? No insects then.

Gives you food for thought, doesn’t it?

GregT on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 2:14 am 



Norm,

If you have 1.2 million to spend on farmland, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a good plot of land, a long ways away from a city. Driving into town once a week is not any more sustainable, than living in the city itself. Both are going to come to an end sooner or later. More than likely sooner.

People with common sense can see the direction that we are heading in. Those without, cannot. If you share concerns over peak oil, then you are already ahead of most. Planning for your future would be a very sensible thing to do. Putting down those that are actually planning for theirs, is not. I am sure that those of us that you would consider to be ‘survivalists’, could care less whether you survive or not. That, Norm, is up to you.

Northwest Resident on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 3:42 am 



PapaSmurf — As always, big on insults but a total lack of facts and a complete absence of rational arguments or relevant commentary. Just a cranky old man stopping by to spew a little spite and venom before hobbling back to wherever he came from, cursing under his breath the whole way. Same exact thing he always does.

GregT on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 4:14 am 



Yes NWR,

If anyone will be lying in misery in the fetal position, it will be people like Papasmurf. Denial is a very powerful human trait, but eventually the truth will be too difficult to ignore. I feel sorry for his kids.

PapaSmurf on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 5:57 am 



NWR,
I have done all of these debates for years. I started in 2004. I got bored debating the clowns that were around here back in those days. MonteQuest, Matt Savinar, etc. You are just the same. You will burn out in a few years and move on with your life.

It is tough to keep up the steady drumbeat of collapse predictions for years and never have anything happen.

I recall that there were some regional power outages back then due to some hot weather. I think it was 2007-2008. The twits on this website started posting, “THIS IS IT !!!” and everyone was saying their goodbyes online. It was hilarious. I told them to bookmark their posts so they can have a good laugh in 5 years.

I was just visiting a local hydro electric dam here in the NW. They had an interesting history posted about how in the late 1800s nobody thought that hydro would work in the NW because the only turbines from the east were designed for higher water flow and lower elevation changes. The experts thought that the steep drops and lower water volumes would make hydro fail in the NW. Now we get 2/3 of our electricity from that source.

Don’t assume you know everything about energy today. You might be surprised. I used to be a doomer circa 2004. Around 2009 most of us realized that the worst case scenarios are not going to happen, so we moved on.

I pop in here sporadically to see what the crazies are jabbering about. Go take a test drive in a Nissan Leaf. Call Solar City and get a no money down solar system installed on your roof. Get a life and move on.

meld on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 1:58 pm 



@Papasmurf – The troll is strong with you. But there is only one thing sadder than a doomer, and that’s a doomer troll.

Davey on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 2:21 pm 



Papa, doomers and collapsniks are not worst case scenario people they acknowledge contraction paradigm is set to dominate. Growth is over. It is anyone’s guess what that will bring. Worst case scenarios are a benchmark and not the norm. Your pompous remarks lead me to believe you have some cognitive Dissonance going on. NR is highly regarded by me for intelligent responses and balance. BTW we appreciate your impute in the name of balance but we don’t need your condescending attitudes.

Northwest Resident on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 2:52 pm 



PapaSmurf — So, you think that we’ll never run out of oil? Or, do you think that even if we do run out of oil, we’ll be able to all buy Nissan Leaf’s, so no problem? Please elaborate.

What about the U.S. Military? Are they twits too? Are they in the fetal position? Are they seeking reinforcement of their misery? The reason I ask is because they are actively preparing for oil shortfalls as early as 2015, preparing to deal with civil unrest and increased world conflicts. But you’re smarter than those guys too, right PapaSmurf?

How do you interpret the trillions in debt that the global economy is burdened by, and still growing exponentially? Is that debt repayable? Is our economy doing just fine? Is all the debt due to the excessive and unbearable cost of oil, or is it due to some other reason? What’s your brilliant take on this subject?

PapaSmurf, I’m trying to be objective, but I can’t see you as anything other than a pompous ass, a Mr. Smarty Pants who thinks he knows it all. If you had any intellectual courage, you would strive to justify your pomposity, explain to us exactly why Nissan Leaf’s are going to save the world from peak oil. But you don’t. So you resort to stupid name-calling and insults — you compensate for your lack of smarts by convincing yourself that you are right and everybody else is wrong — same as all true morons do. The only reason you come to this website on a bi-weekly or so basis to pull your pompous “I’m smarter than you guys” routine is because you need to put your “superiority” on display — it makes you feel better about yourself, and you obviously need all the help you can get.

PapaSmurf on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 4:55 pm 



NWR,
I don’t take you guys seriously enough to care. You are a bunch of clowns on the internet who don’t know enough to even engage in a good debate.

The current group of doomers here on PO.com are amateurs compared to the pros that were here a few years ago.

edboyle on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 6:00 pm 



Eating insects is just globalization of cuisine from Asia and Africa coming to the Western countries and nothing to do with collapse. If Mcdonalds landed in China then Insect cuisine can land in NYC. No big deal.

See all the links from this google search:

https://www.google.de/search?q=insect+fad+in+restaurants&oq=insect+fad+in+restaurants&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65l3j69i60l2.9668j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Northwest Resident on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 6:41 pm 



PapaSmurf — You’re a funny old dud, worth a few laughs even if all you do is name-call and pretend you’re smart.

I don’t take you seriously either, and for much better reason than you don’t take me or others here seriously.

You still haven’t addressed questions of the economy, of your assertion that electric vehicles have anything to do with the peak oil situation, or any of the actual facts related to the peak oil discussion. You avoid discussion of facts like the plague. All you have are immature insults and name-calling — and that is ALL we need to know about your pathetic state of mind and how supposedly “smart” you are. Name-calling insulters are always low-life morons trying to compensate for a little dick — and that’s what I think of you.

This website is about peak oil AND all issues related to peak oil. The consequences of peak oil extend into many different areas of life. There is a lot of discussion here that is off topic, but mostly it is on topic, according to the article posted. It is conversation, discussion, spirited debate at times, trading of ideas — things that you apparently aren’t capable of appreciating.

GregT on Mon, 10th Mar 2014 11:55 pm 



NWR said:

“PapaSmurf — So, you think that we’ll never run out of oil? Or, do you think that even if we do run out of oil, we’ll be able to all buy Nissan Leaf’s, so no problem? Please elaborate.”

Papasmurf said:

“You are a bunch of clowns on the internet who don’t know enough to even engage in a good debate.”

NWR said:

“What about the U.S. Military? Are they twits too? Are they in the fetal position? Are they seeking reinforcement of their misery?”

Papasmurf said:

“You are a bunch of clowns on the internet who don’t know enough to even engage in a good debate.”

So who exactly is the CLOWN who doesn’t know enough to engage in a good debate? That’s right the CLOWN would be Papasmurf.