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PyroSAJ t1_jdc34mb wrote

The major difference with insects is that the muscle is inside the "bone".

Scaling that up you'd have something like a crab. Scale it up more and you definitely enough meat to have steak.

The size makes it hard to separate the meat from everything else. Can still make a nutrient-rich meal of it, and given how fast they breed and mature it's quite efficient to farm. Processing it in to something people would readily consume is the hard part.

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[deleted] t1_jdclivl wrote

I tried cricket chips growing up. Just roasted crickets with seasoning on them. They honestly tasted good but the wings could get stuck in your teeth really easily. Many cultures do eat insects and some companies are attempting to introduce insects to western Europe and the USA through processed goods like powders. As you already stated, they truly are an efficient source of nutrients. Cows take 6 times as much feed for the same return as crickets.

https://www.fao.org/edible-insects/en/#:~:text=Edible%20insects%20contain%20high%20quality,the%20same%20amount%20of%20protein.

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ndraiay t1_jdd1tf9 wrote

A friend offered me fried silk worms. Tasted like a cross between a peanut and a potato chip. It is one of those things that most people would like if they didn't know it was a silk worm.

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PyroSAJ t1_jdd3dzx wrote

Fried is fine. I was offered mopanie worms a few times in Africa.

I'm still scarred from the ones where the inside is "squishy".

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AlmightyMustard t1_jde9lz1 wrote

Actually because of the fact that you have to eat the insect whole you have to feed them human safe food. On a whole they end up being no more efficient than chicken.

If fed on food waste however they end up being considerably more efficient than other protein sources but unfit for human consumption.

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No_Constant8644 t1_jdd5228 wrote

The “bone” is actually chitin, which is the same thing the flesh of mushrooms are made of so it is actually edible just not great in larger amounts.

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