A Sustainable Snack: Roasted Crickets

Robert is an insect eating advocate. Crickets are a nutritional and sustainable snack that he believes can be important for the world as a whole. Robert wonders if sustainable food will play into future generations’ decision on whether or not to have children.

What is the world going to look like in 20 years? 40 years? Robert asks. “A big part of that is tied in with climate change, and a big part of that is our food system and the impact it has on the planet.”

Video Transcript

Meet Robert: insect eating advocate

Robert, speaking to his young daughter, Clara: You want some pickle crickets? That sounds yummy, doesn’t it? Kind of tastes like dill pickles.

(Robert and Clara eat crickets out of packet)

Clara: I’m almost done.

Robert: You’re all done with your crickets?

I think it’s really changed the way that I think about how we educate people and provide resources to parents and educators. I want to live in a world where it’s really easy for parents to provide their kids with safe, clean, healthy food that kids want to eat.

Robert, to Clara: How’s it taste?

Clara: Like pickles.

Robert: Like pickles?

Ronald Short, producer (filming himself): There it is. That’s a cricket, y’all. Here we go. (Chews.) Yeah, kind of like a corn nut.

Robert: Crickets are a really great example. They’re really high in protein. They’re a complete protein, so they’ve got a lot of the different amino acids that can’t be found in any one plant. They’re incredibly efficient. They use a tiny fraction of the water, they use a fraction of the space, and they use a fraction of the feed that it takes to grow and produce that food source. And they produce a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions.

When people have the opportunity to try it in a positive way, not sensationalized, but, “Here’s a product, it’s made of insects, but it’s nutritious and it’s sustainable, and would you like to try it?” People try it, and as soon as they taste it, they go, “Yeah, this tastes like X-Y-Z.”

What is the world going to look like in 20 years? 40 years? When Clara is deciding whether or not she’s going to have kids. A big part of that is tied in with climate change, and a big part of that is our food system and the impact it has on the planet. But I think insects really are an inevitable part of our food system. And I think the sooner Americans and the sooner the U.S. food culture is able to really appreciate that, the more benefit we will see, and the more benefit we’ll be able to help provide to other people all over the world. Even if we just help change a few minds, we can have a big impact.

(Robert and Clara eat a cricket together.)

Robert, speaking to someone off-camera: Cricket grass fertilizer — would y’all be interested in trying some?

Off-camera speaker: Yeah. 100 percent.

Robert: Okay. Cool. We’ve got some folks we’re talking to, and I’m trying to make it as hands-off as possible where someone else is getting it, someone else is bagging, someone else is delivering it.

Off-camera speaker: Yeah.

Robert: All I have to do is like, “Here. You want it? You’ll take it?”