So shall we be tempted to eat grasshopper mince

Peach cockle, grasshopper mince and dried mealworm. If we sunk our teeth into insects more often, it would benefit both us and the planet, according to experts.

– It’s super tasty and perfect to take a handful before lunch, says mealworm enthusiast Nils Österström.

It takes ten weeks from egg to mature mealworm. The worms are then put to sleep and steamed to death. As a final step, they are dried or frozen to be sold on and become food.

The mealworm factory Tebrito in Orsa has existed since 2016. At that time it was not even allowed to use insects in food in Sweden. But in 2020, the message came from the EU that it is okay.

But while in Denmark it is already possible to sink your teeth into a burger based on grasshopper mince, the Swedish market is more tentative. But in recent years, interest has increased significantly, according to Tebrito’s CEO Nils Österström.

– We plan to increase our production tenfold to meet demand. It’s fantastic, he says.

Few products

But even though Nils Österström notices an increased interest, there are so far only a few products with insect content on the store shelves. There is a built-in resistance in many people to sink their teeth into worms and small insects, however useful they may be.

– There is definitely a disgust factor with some. But I usually compare it to sushi, it took almost 15 years before it went from being a strange food to something that everyone eats, says Nils Åström, food engineer at the company Eatem.

After working for a few years in the sugar industry, he started with cricket flour at the newly started Eatem. The company has, among other things, developed a frog neck together with a bakery, which is sold in a few stores in the country. According to Nils Åström, crickets have a nutty taste that goes very well in crispbread. Next up are protein bars, which they hope to launch in the next year.

– I think we need some hip and conscious people who start eating insect food and the rest will follow, he says.

Global hesitation

If in Sweden it is more about an alternative protein source for the curious, insects fulfill a much more decisive function in other parts of the world. But even if it is more common in some countries, the skepticism is global.

– The distaste many people feel for eating insects is the biggest obstacle to being able to make full use of insects, says Chrysantus Tanga at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya.

Tanga is doing research on insect food and neophobia, that is, suspicion of eating new things, work that is funded, among other things, by the Swedish Sida. Last summer, he and his colleagues published a study, in which they tested how different forms of locust flour in cookies were received by test subjects. The better the insect meal is hidden, the easier it was for the testers to like the cookies.

– But we still want to preserve all the useful proteins and fats in the flour, so it’s important to find a balance, he says.

– To me it goes without saying, globally we have to start seeing insects as an important part of food if we are to manage to supply the world’s population with useful protein, fats and minerals.

Noticing change

Even at EU level there is talk of insects. On October 18, the parliament voted through a new protein strategy in which insect food is highlighted as an important part.

And maybe that’s about to turn around. Just like Nils Österström at Tebrito, Åsa Berggren, professor of ecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), thinks she notices a changed attitude when it comes to eating insects.

– Food has become more associated with who you are, or rather with who you want to be. For many young people, sustainability is worryingly important and even vegetarians I meet say they would consider eating insect-based food, she says.

Munching leftovers

And it is climate-friendly. As an example, insects need to eat an average of two kilograms of food to grow one kilogram. By comparison, a cow needs to ingest about 25 kilos to increase one kilo in edible weight.

– You can also eat almost anything on insects and they require very little space. They also eat things that we don’t and convert it into wholesome proteins and good fats, says Åsa Berggren, who focuses on crickets in her research.

At Tebrito, the mealworms happily munch on residues, including from crisp bread and drav (residues from beer brewing). Not producing special feed for the worms is part of the company’s sustainability strategy. In addition, the droppings – the frass – are used and sold as plant nutrition.

– Almost nothing goes to waste. In addition, we emit only one and a half kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of dried mealworms, compared to over 80 for a kilogram of dried beef. It is incredibly climate-smart, says Nils Österström.

Growth every year

Although most of Tebrito’s products are exported abroad, including to the Baltic countries, they have various projects underway. One example is a protein drink that they are developing in collaboration with Tetra Pak.

And there can be big money to be made for those who can persevere. The market for mealworms as food will grow by around 28 percent annually until 2030, according to the company Meticulous Research.

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