When Kortni Borgerson thinks about the trillions of periodical cicadas emerging from the earth, she sees more than insects hopping clumsily from tree to tree looking for mates: she sees lunch.
Some may find the idea uncomfortable — an idea often unwittingly rooted in colonialism and the idea that eating insects is “barbaric” — but Borgerson, the Montclair State University anthropologist, is among those eager to change that perception. While she loves eating all kinds of insects, she finds cicadas especially tasty. “They’re one of the best insects in America,” she says.
She says its texture is like a shelled shrimp and its taste is like “a chicken nugget and a sunflower seed had a baby,” and she suggests first-timers try it cooked like any other meat and tossed it in a taco.
Borgerson isn’t the only one fascinated by edible insects, Grist reports. Ahead of the emergence of the brooding cicadas this spring, a flurry of cicada recipes, sweet treats, and culinary odes are popping up celebrating the big insects. The interest is part of a growing social movement in favor of alternative proteins among consumers seeking a more sustainable food system.
“People are excited and intrigued by this strange crawling insect,” she says, “and they’re more excited about eating it than they are about other kinds of insects.”
Borgerson says the fuss over the cicadas’ emergence is an opportunity to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about eating insects: Not only are they tasty, she says, they’re also a sustainable alternative to carbon-intensive proteins like beef and an effective way to address growing food insecurity.
“Some insects have great opportunities and potential to reduce our carbon footprint in a tasty and sustainable way,” she said.
Approximately 30 percent of the world’s population considers insects a delicacy or staple food, a practice that dates back thousands of years. A study published earlier this year found that more than 3,000 ethnic groups across 128 countries eat 2,205 insect species, with everything from caterpillars to locusts appearing in all kinds of dishes. These invertebrates are a rich source of protein, fat, and vitamins. Insects are most commonly eaten by consumers in Asia, North America (mainly Mexico, where 450 species are eaten), and Africa.
The idea is still novel in the United States, where only six species are regularly consumed (crickets being the most popular), and long-standing consumer prejudices have been an obstacle to wider acceptance.
Julie Resnick, an anthropologist at Wayne State University who has studied Western prejudices against eating beetles and other insects, said the “disgust” reaction many Americans have to the idea is a cultural by-product of colonization.
“Disgust is a very instinctual and biological feeling,” she says, “so to tell someone that our disgust towards insects is cultural and not something we’re physiologically programmed to feel is hard to understand, because if we’re disgusted by the idea of eating insects, we can feel our stomach turn over and our gag reflex kick in. But disgust is one of the few emotions that can be learned, so we feel disgust at things that our culture teaches us to feel disgust towards.”
Such reactions can also be a sign of internalized prejudice, says Resnick. Indigenous peoples across North America once ate a variety of insects, but European settlers viewed this as “barbaric” and a way to “other” non-white communities and cultural practices. “Is it racism? The short answer is, yes,” says Resnick.
The racial underpinnings of this ideology have come under scrutiny after right-wing claims went viral that a shadowy global elite is forcing people to eat insects. Politicized conspiracy theories, like the claim that Bill Gates is taking away meat and forcing everyone to eat insects, are an insidious form of misinformation that Joseph Yun fights every day.
“I believe the very concept of edible insects makes people think about minimum standards,” says Yoon, founder of Brooklyn Bugs and chef advocate for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development. “It’s for the apocalypse. It’s for the poor. It’s for marginalized communities in the developing world. And the concept itself creates fear, anger, and resentment. Instead of locking insects away in a silo because we don’t understand them, we can work together to provide solutions for the global food system.”
Eleven years ago, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization called insects a promising alternative to traditional meat production. A decade later, there has been a surge in North American startups aiming to turn insects into human staples, ingredients (usually flour) and feed for cows and pets. The U.S. market for such products is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2033, and more than three times that size globally.
Yet for an industry still in its infancy, whether insect protein can be scaled up into a legitimate climate solution remains a pressing question, one that Rachel Mazak has been studying intently. Mazak, a sustainability researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, is one of the scientists who have set out to quantify the carbon emissions of producing crickets, mealworms, and wood beetles on an industrial scale. So far, they’ve found that insects are “highly efficient” in their use of land and water compared to traditional livestock. Mazak acknowledges that there’s a lack of data on the subject, but thinks insects are worth further exploration as a viable alternative to more conventional (and carbon-intensive) meat.
But not everyone sees insects as a climate solution. Matthew Hayek, an environmental researcher and assistant professor at New York University and co-author of a 2024 survey of more than 200 climate and agricultural scientists, showed broad support for more government and private sector efforts to encourage meat and dairy alternatives. But he doesn’t think insects should be on the list of urgent solutions. Among other things, he questions the environmental impact of feeding insects to livestock and whether they can be humanely raised and harvested.
“This is an area that deserves basic science and research and development investigation,” he said. “As an actual climate solution at the market level, it’s not worth someone investing in climate change solutions.”
Jeffrey Tomberlin, an entomologist at Texas A&M University and director of the Center for Environmental Sustainability through Insect Agriculture, doesn’t agree. He believes that because addressing the climate crisis requires a restructuring of the global food system, all alternative proteins need to be considered. “When we talk about how to be better stewards of the planet, all options should be on the table,” he says. “We need to diversify as much as we can.”
But for this to happen, consumers and policymakers need to let go of old ideas and consider new possibilities. Tomberlin said that would spur the research and funding needed to develop the processing and production methods needed to make insect protein a viable, scalable alternative to other meats “safely and efficiently.” Only then will the idea of eating insects become more than just a trending headline, and the semi-taco more than a passing novelty.
This story was produced by Grist and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
