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[urbpan]

"Eating bugs makes sense, ecologically and economically. They also happen to taste really good. The more I eat insects, the more I respect them. Taking them from field or farm to plate has taught me, a recalcitrant urban-dweller, firsthand about the value of meat, and that it should never be wasted because it came from a living, breathing being not so different from us when you get right down to it. I don't believe we should clear all animal protein from our diets--partly because I've tried and it makes me feel exhausted, both mentally and physically (did you know that 'brain fog' is a commonly reported symptom among vegans?)--but mostly because that's not how our ancestors or closest primate relatives approached food. They tended to eat meat when they could. Not a lot of it, and certainly not as much of it as we do, but they did eat some.

We aren't ungulates, deftly digesting the cellulose in vegetable matter with giant internal fermenting tanks. We aren't carnivores, subsisting mainly off the flesh of other animals and not much else. We're omnivores by design. We eat everything--and part of that 'omni' includes some animals. Why not let it be insects, whose life cycles are generally much shorter, whose resource needs are fewer, who are the most plentiful creatures on Earth, and who are already being exterminated by the millions just because we find them annoying?"

From Edible by Daniella Martin. Free to read on Kindle!