Edible Insects

Reviews / Votes

Hunter contributes a needed book on the global history of insects as food . . . The book is organized into six illustrated chapters, beginning with examples of insect eating surmised from prehistoric times, extending through exploration of insects as food in various world cuisines today, up to insect farming and the predicted importance of bugs in future food supplies. Recipes, both historical and contemporary, follow. Hunter's research is thorough and well documented. She concludes by introducing her personal experiences as a cook, consumer, and home farmer of insects. The tone of Hunter's writing is approachable and respects diverse cultural traditions, past and present . . . Highly recommended. * Choice * The work not only delves into the historical role of insects as human food, but their contribution to sustainable future food systems . . . Edible Insects highlights stories of traditional methods of insect collection, preparation, consumption, and preservation. It also explores the role of world-class chefs in making insects palatable to consumers in the West. The book includes recipes for beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, grubs, and more. * Redbird Scholar * Presenting a lively overview of the collection, preparation, consumption, and preservation of beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, and grubs (to mention only a few) as it practiced around the world, Edible Insects is a combination of a culinary eye-opener with a more serious explanation of how insects may provide a sustainable and healthy source of food for a number of presently under-nourished societies around the world. * The Well-read Naturalist * This compact volume, part of Reaktion Books' excellent Edible series, provides the perfect primer on the many facets of edible insects. It includes hunting and harvesting practices, insect agriculture, cultural practices and taboos, and potential future scenarios. It's a nice overview, and includes great photos and illustrations as well as some recipes. Many recent media on edible insects offer them as some kind of utopian wonder food, a carbon friendly source of protein. I especially appreciate Hunter's balanced take on this topic. It is true that rearing insects typically requires less land and less resources than other animal protein. Still, barriers are significant, and there's a lack of science on the impacts of scaling up. * Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science * a broad introduction to the role of insects as human food, from our prehistoric past to current food trends-and even recipes. On the menu are beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, and grubs of many kinds, with stories that highlight traditional methods of insect collection, preparation, consumption, and preservation. But we not only encounter the culinary uses of creepy-crawlies across many cultures. We also learn of the potential of insects to alleviate global food shortages and natural resource overexploitation, as well as the role of world-class chefs in making insects palatable to consumers in the West. From grasshoppers to grubs, an eye-opening look at insect cuisine around the world. * New Books Network * If you have never considered insects as food, this book will change your mind. Gina Louise Hunter, a food anthropologist at Illinois State University, will take you on a lovely ride across space and time in the steps of entomologists, historians, and anthropologists who have studied and tasted insects . . . After exploring a
few of the classical and some less well-known examples of edible insects, the authorbrings us to the present and future of edible insects. Indeed, insects can provide food and feed for a growing planet, but they are not a magic silver bullet to hunger and malnutrition, as occasionally advertised. The book ends with a nuanced and personal reflection on the potentials and shortcomings of insect farming as a sustainable solution for alternative animal protein production . . . this little book might inspire you. Maybe not to eat insects, but certainly to question your relationship with them and the food we eat. * Community Ecology Journal *