Cricket brittle anyone?
Crickets and other insects may be the next big thing in food, according to the New York Daily News.
Nutritious, protein-packed and sustainable, insects are already consumed by billions around the world and now they are making there way to New York. Cricket kebabs were served at the Future Food Salon, held in August in Manhattan.
"Insects seem like a really good solution to the future of food," said Aruna Antonella Handa, an advocate of eating bugs, according to the Daily News. "But also the most toxic in terms of resistance from the public."
The "Future Food Salon" in Chelsea is a food and arts event promoting more sustainable eating habits that showcased all the tasty ways to fry up an insect. According to Handa, who hosted the event, the easiest method involves grinding crickets into a fine flour, and then adding it to other foods.
"It's a gentle introduction," said Pat Crowley, the founder of Chapul, a Utah company that manufactures energy bars made with cricket flour, according to the Daily News.
Crowley presented his energy bars at the food event and said they were a hit. He said the same was true with "crittle," a peanut brittle with chunks of cricket meat locked in the hardened sugar.
More than 2 billion people around the world currently eat insects, according to a recent United Nations report.
"Insects are not harmful to eat, quite the contrary," said Eva Muller, director of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization's Forest Economics, Policy and Products Division. "They are nutritious, they have a lot of protein and are considered a delicacy in many countries."
According to the Daily News, for everyone who truly wanted to taste the crickets, they had to grab a cricket on a stick, or reach into a big bowl of salted crickets and snack on them.
The insects are already a menu staple at one SoHo restaurant.
"They are so interesting that I didn't want to hide them inside anything," said Regina Galvanduque, co-owner of Antojeria La Popular, according to the Daily News.
Inside this authentic Mexican cafe, crickets are served on an open-face taco, resting on a layer of guacamole and topped with crème fraîche.
"But I draw the line at scorpions," Galvanduque said.
