Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

When certain insects show up at your picnic, don’t shoo them away. Chew them away.

04— They really do have a crunch [crunches]; really similar to roasted nuts.

That’s Robert Nathan Allen, crunching a toasted cricket. He’s quoted in an article about edible insects in the December issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine. RNA as he’s known, is founder of the Austin, Texas nonprofit Little Herds

08—And we focus primarily educating the public and particularly children about edible insects and why and how we can adopt them into our diet.

We call eating insects as food Entomophagy; it’s commonplace among 80% of the world’s population, and he’s trying to convince the other 20% to take the leap.

19—Once western societies started becoming very agriculturally based, particularly in northern climates, it just became ingrained in our society that insects are dirty. And so, that idea has continued to be passed down generation to generation in these western cultures. Whereas in the tropical environments where the habit has continued, it’s just another food source.

We eat more than 400 insects a year without knowing it. RNA says by intentionally substituting insect protein for animal protein, we can improve the environment and our nutrition. Learn more in the December issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

That’s our show for today… Funding provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.