Better farms, not bugs

Heather Looy and John R. Wood’s article “Save the planet; Eat bugs: Why it’s time for the West to embrace edible insects” (CC, Sept. 20) inspired this column.

I agree that the Biblical story about Peter and Cornelius and the vision of the lowered sheet is not about clean or unclean foods: it is, as suggested by Looy and Wood, about accepting all races, tribes, families and tongues in the church. The story is about people. We don’t need Bible stories about combining wool and linen to give us “permission” to mix two kinds of cloth either, for example. And although I am the world’s fussiest eater, I’ll do my best to accept grasshoppers in my diet as a guest. The question of cultural hospitality is a very difficult one for many of us (me) and we (me again) deserve criticism for declining live slugs and roasted grubs.

In short, I whole-heartedly support eating insects. That is, I want you to eat them regularly. Me, I’ll take homegrown Lincoln peas, Detroit Dark Red beets, Bolero carrots, Wyoming black raspberries and beef from our own Dexter cattle. With earth-careful agriculture (including gardening), I am convinced that we can provide enough protein, carbs and vitamins for the world’s growing population. (Not if it gets to 300 trillion folks, but for the near future.) I envision with horror more fertile, green land being removed from land reserves and greenbelts, not for housing as in the ill-advised attempt by the Government of Ontario but by factories producing crickets and soldier fly larvae.

Intensive agriculture

More than 100 years ago, F. H. King gave many examples of intensive agriculture in Farmers of Forty Centuries, specifically in China, Japan, and Korea. In the U.S., Gene Logsdon once calculated how much corn could be raised on suburban lawns. During WWII, Victory Gardens proved how much traditional food (not insects) could be raised when a nation was inspired by a common goal. Speaking specifically about protein, if the same amount of money were spent in protecting salmon spawning streams and careful husbandry of spawning runs as is spent developing saltwater salmon farms, the amount of protein produced by purely wild fish would be astronomical (provided that ocean harvest was reasonable and not destructive). In my home state of Wisconsin, farmers increasingly buy into the “get big or get out” ethic, and mixed farms are museum pieces. Meanwhile, Hmong migrants and refugees from southeast Asia near Sheboygan rent an acre here and five acres there and have developed thriving local vegetable and flower markets. It’s also encouraging that urban agriculture, patio gardening and roof-top gardening are all gaining ground, so to speak.

One final note: The only insects I have knowingly consumed are chocolate-covered ants and roasted grasshoppers. I have never eaten escargot but have no objection in theory. Just pickiness and the ugh factor. That leaves more for you. Even though, in some branches of Christianity, snails are considered fish and therefore eligible for eating on fast days, I’d prefer my snails to be re-rerouted through the eggs or flesh of runner ducks.