Quote:The British government is funding projects pushing Africans to farm and consume insects, including school-age children, in randomized trials, to assess their effects.

The United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) – a subsidiary of the country’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – is responsible for backing the projects taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe.

With a roughly $320,000 grant from the aid office, researchers in Zimbabwe will be experimenting with using mopane worms in porridge served to children in schools. Poor children aged seven to 11 in the towns of Gwanda and Harare will be fed the concoction derived from the caterpillars, which researchers allege are high in vitamins and minerals.



Ultimately, a randomized trial will be carried out to compare if children consuming insects perform better in school than their counterparts.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, researchers will use a roughly $55,000 grant to “promote the production of insects for human food and for use in the manufacture of animal feeds,” according to a synopsis from the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office’s development tracker website. The funds are being provided by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod).

Among the insects being pushed for consumption are caterpillars, migratory locusts, and black soldier flies. The project, which began in March and will conclude in December, is a response to water shortages allegedly due to stress placed on the environment from animal farming.

It is unclear whether or not the conclusion from the work in Africa will be applied back in the United Kingdom, though, experts in the field interviewed by mainstream media outlets have claimed it is likely.

Dr. Sarah Beynon, for example, the founder of the Bug Farm in Pembrokeshire and an academic entomologist, claimed these aid projects were “a sure way to save lives and improve nutrition of the poorest people on planet Earth,” while speaking with The Guardian.

“We are also actively encouraging people in the developed world to include insects in their diets,” she later added.

“With a population that has an appetite set to far exceed the planetary limits, and with current agriculture decimating biodiversity and changing the climate, we have no option but to change how we produce and consume food … and our views on the topic too,” Dr. Benyon continued.

Similarly, a spokesperson from the UKRI admitted:

“We support specific research projects with funding, but we anticipate that the learnings and knowledge gleaned will benefit citizens around the world irrespective of their economic status. The protein and environmental benefits of consuming insects have been widely reported globally.”

The unearthed grant is the latest example of the environment and climate being used as an excuse to push radical changes to traditional diets and farming practices.

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So they are feeding them a traditional food source? Maybe I don't understand

(09-29-2022 06:41 AM)Nevermoor Wrote:  So they are feeding them a traditional food source? Maybe I don't understand

If it's such a not big deal, why don't you go volunteer for the study?

Or better yet, just do it on your own and report back how much you liked it.

(09-29-2022 07:27 AM)Bear Catlett Wrote:  

(09-29-2022 06:41 AM)Nevermoor Wrote:  So they are feeding them a traditional food source? Maybe I don't understand

If it's such a not big deal, why don't you go volunteer for the study?

Or better yet, just do it on your own and report back how much you liked it.

Rules for thee, not for me.

Meh... #firstworldsensibilities
Lobster was once considered 'beneath' human consumption.... at least developed humans.

Crickets, worms etc are really no different. They are not things that westerners eat, but they are certainly things that many other cultures including most African cultures have eaten for centuries.... and for context, it is much easier to 'farm' these things in Africa than say chickens or cattle.

No, I'm not going to eat them because I don't live in a place where finding proteins is difficult... but I eat pork... and many cultures find that disgusting. I also eat all sorts of veggies and shellfish that many others won't. Asians eat some stuff that I couldn't possibly stomach.

One of the problems of British (and other) colonization was that they brought culturally (and often climate) inappropriate foods... which wasn't intentional, but it changed the culture... and this is just somewhat returning it to what it was.

Besides... I'd ask any of you....
If your choices are 'eat bugs' or 'have no protein' EVER in your diet, which are you doing? If you say the latter, then look forward to being 4'6, 87 pounds, sick all the time and dead by 30.

I'm Cajun. We eat anything. They're not worms, they are caterpillars. I'm sure someone in my family made dirty rice with catalpa worms in the not so distant past.

(09-29-2022 08:54 AM)Eagleaidaholic Wrote:  I'm Cajun. We eat anything. They're not worms, they are caterpillars. I'm sure someone in my family made dirty rice with catalpa worms in the not so distant past.

#Nutria

(09-29-2022 09:04 AM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(09-29-2022 08:54 AM)Eagleaidaholic Wrote:  I'm Cajun. We eat anything. They're not worms, they are caterpillars. I'm sure someone in my family made dirty rice with catalpa worms in the not so distant past.

#Nutria

Got a bounty on them. They get sold back.

Seems prudent to try something different given water restrictions. Diverting water from animals to humans seems to be a rational goal. No idea if this will work.

They shouldn't have stolen the white farmers lands.

I can't imagine having them regularly but I'd try 'em once. This is a good project. Malnutrition in many parts of Africa is tragically rampant. My brother spent 2 years in the Peace Corps in Burundi, teaching and promoting fish farming. He can tell stories of folks who intentionally burned themselves because burn victims get a high protein diet in the hospital.

I'd eat bugs, & have no problem w/ trying to shift some of the diet to that. But "experimenting w/ feeding Africans' is textbook example of white supremacy