What if there was a near endless food supply that is very healthy, can be used in numerous products, has a small environmental footprint and can be produced just about anywhere.
It is not a food of the future, it is available right now and it may surprise some people to learn this emerging superfood is crickets.
Yup, the insects that scurry about in the tall grass behind your home are also a tremendous source of nutrition.
The Grassroots Health Hut in Armstrong carries a wide range of health products, including a supply of cricket products.
Garhen Avalokiteshvara says crickets can be used in numerous recipes, as he tried out his first cricket burger.
“Crickets have no diseases, they need no antibiotics, they are far cleaner than any creature we normally eat from and only two tablespoons of cricket protein has 317 per cent of your daily B12,” says Avalokiteshvara. “That's 10 times more than what you find in Atlantic salmon, that's more iron and potassium than spinach has, 13 grams of pure protein of the best branch chain amino acids you can imagine.”
Avalokiteshvara brings the cricket products in from Ontario.
“Their environmental footprint is roughly 1-100th of that of a cow,” says Avalokiteshvara, adding cows are roughly 40 per cent protein with the rest of the animal not being edible, while a cricket is 70 per cent protein.
“And what you find left over is omega sixes and threes,” he says. “All from that tiny little cricket. They are one of the few foods that can really be considered a superfood as compared to a lot of the other foods.”
Cricket protein powder has a nutty taste and can be sprinkled on a salad, mixed with smoothies, sprinkled on a stir fry, and you can even just mix it with a glass of milk.
“As for baked goes, the sky's the limit,” says Avalokiteshvara, adding cricket protein powder can be mixed with anything you want.
Avalokiteshvara says the crickets can also be beneficial to the next generations as it leaves such a small environmental footprint while producing so many benefits.
— Darren Handschuh, Castanet
