Episode 66
Eating Insects And Cultured Meat?
Episode Summary: In this episode, Leekei and Jenn talk about Insects and their value as a source of protein.
Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson and Leekei Tang.
Jenn and Leekei talked about how insects are being used as a food source to reduce our carbon footprint. Different forms have already been used, including Cochineal in shakes and powdered forms in pet foods. They also discussed producing alternatives to meats by growing them in the laboratory.
For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org
Want to join in the conversation?
Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.
Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!
You can find out more on page 208 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 104
You can also find find the Cricket Burger Hamburger in the free download of The Carbon Almanac For Kids (available in English and 21 other languages!)
-----
From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
-----
The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Ima.
Speaker:I live in Scotland.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.
Speaker:Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.
Speaker:Hey, I'm Rod.
Speaker:I'm from Peru.
Speaker:Welcome to Carbon Sessions.
Speaker:A podcast with carbon conversations for every day with everyone
Speaker:from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:In our conversations, we share ideas, perspectives, questions, and things we
Speaker:can actually do to make a difference.
Speaker:So don't be shy.
Speaker:Join our carbon sessions because it's not too late.
Speaker:Hi, I am leaky.
Speaker:Hi.
Speaker:I'm.
Speaker:Today we're going to talk about something really exciting.
Speaker:Leaky . Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I mean, exciting to me.
Speaker:I'm not sure this is exciting to everybody.
Speaker:Well, if you, you know, it used to be that only, uh, eight year
Speaker:old boys did this, but , we're going to talk about eating bugs.
Speaker:Yeah, . Well actually I'm sure I have eaten a lot of bugs in my life.
Speaker:Um, the last bug I remember was last summer when I was running, um, in the
Speaker:films . And I had, I dunno, for some stupid reason, I had bugs keep popping
Speaker:it in my mouth because I don't, I should stop running my mouth open.
Speaker:, that's, yeah.
Speaker:I should stop doing.
Speaker:That die in my, in my fruit.
Speaker:But anyway, so I've eaten an insect, but I didn't die . Right, right.
Speaker:And I've eaten a few fruit flies in my wine.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And do you know that insect, as disgusting as it might sound, as grosses as I met,
Speaker:sound is a kind of, um, food table for over a hundred countries in the world.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker:Well, they're probably easy to get and, uh, um, and full of, full of protein.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's a very good source of protein.
Speaker:And um, actually what is very interesting with Insect is that, uh, the.
Speaker:Breeding of insect doesn't, uh, doesn't emit a lot of carbon.
Speaker:So the ratio between, , protein input and uh, carbon emission is really good.
Speaker:And it's actually already used in some of them of brands of, uh, as
Speaker:a source of protein for pet food.
Speaker:So, , your dog , might already be eating insect in his pet.
Speaker:You might already be giving it to your pet, to your dog without even knowing it.
Speaker:without even knowing it . There's actually a couple brands.
Speaker:I think the legislation in Europe is, um, is changing because, uh,
Speaker:it's a very promising sector.
Speaker:It's a very promising way for, for, for the planet to get enough protein,
Speaker:and so the legislation is, is evolving and, uh, you can buy insect online or in
Speaker:shops , , because it's a lot of protein.
Speaker:I remember the other day I went to a gym and, um, and you know, when you get
Speaker:outta the gym, you can buy protein bar and so, , I saw one, um, protein bar.
Speaker:Um, and um, it looked like, I think it was like apple chocolate something.
Speaker:And I read a very small cap.
Speaker:It says, oh, its protein.
Speaker:And, but it wasn't obvious.
Speaker:It just said protein.
Speaker:It's just yo, it's the very big thing.
Speaker:Uh, on the protein bar was, um, was protein bar and then, , the
Speaker:flavor, which is chocolate and um, and banana or something.
Speaker:And then, uh, and then the very, very small cap, you can
Speaker:see that it contains insects.
Speaker:Oh, I've seen cricket powder, um, powder made of crickets.
Speaker:And I've also seen.
Speaker:Freeze dried crickets that have flavorings on them, like ranch dressing or barbecue
Speaker:crickets that you could buy just to eat, but they kind of look like crickets.
Speaker:But I know that there as snacks as snacks, and I know there was
Speaker:a uh, chip company that was using cricket powder in their chips.
Speaker:Um, and I think at one point Starbucks was using some kind of
Speaker:insect and I don't know what kind.
Speaker:To color their strawberry beverages.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:But then, then people found out and got upset about it.
Speaker:So they switched to tomato or something, but yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But they were using an insect.
Speaker:I don't know what kind to make, it's the drink.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:What's the English word?
Speaker:It's cuy You.
Speaker:Cuy.
Speaker:It's um, it um, it's like, um, a kind of um, um, slug.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:A Caterpillars stale.
Speaker:No, caterpillar is a kinda caterpillar.
Speaker:Oh yeah, that makes sense, caterpillar.
Speaker:That makes, because if makes sense, you in some brands of Tema,
Speaker:you have the same, um, the same product, the same, the same, yeah.
Speaker:Food coloring.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's natural.
Speaker:I think for me, I think it would be the look and the texture.
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:I think it was powdered.
Speaker:I wouldn't mind like cricket.
Speaker:. Um, , and if or if it was in a bar, like you say, I don't think
Speaker:I would mind, but I don't know how I would feel about eating them.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:It's hard, you know, , you've been to France, right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, a couple times.
Speaker:Have you tried Snells?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:It's looks gross when you It's gotta go think of it, right?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So why would you eat snails and not insect?
Speaker:Well, I think it was mostly to try it and it was mostly, mostly garlic and butter,
Speaker:Um, but um, yeah, I used to eat calamari, but I don't anymore
Speaker:because, uh, or octopus, because I learned how smart they are.
Speaker:Yeah, me too.
Speaker:And I just can't, I can't.
Speaker:And, you know, lobsters look like a big bug.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, shrimps as well, right?
Speaker:And shrimps, yeah.
Speaker:, but Oh, they're good.
Speaker:So, but I don't know that I would know that there was a lot of meat on insects.
Speaker:Is there, is it what?
Speaker:, I think of them as hard and crunchy and little, so yeah.
Speaker:How do they get eaten?
Speaker:Do you know?
Speaker:Like how do they, do they like, I just get eaten the way they are.
Speaker:Um, as you said, uh, it's dried and then, um, and then mainly powder.
Speaker:. but I think some of them, because I saw it in the market in, um, Southeast
Speaker:Asia, um, oh, would you sell tarns?
Speaker:Like those tarns, like those big grass?
Speaker:Yeah, big spiders with, um, uh, with hair, um, . Yeah.
Speaker:And what they do is they.
Speaker:, it's Fri and then, uh, they add spices.
Speaker:It's, um, it looks quite scary, but, um, I haven't tried them.
Speaker:I haven't, I mean, I have, um, no, I haven't tried those.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:But, um, yeah.
Speaker:Um, why not?
Speaker:I mean, yeah, if it's a good source of protein and it's good for the planet,
Speaker:the reason why I think , it's , a very promising sector is that recently our
Speaker:present, the French present, Emmanuel went to the United States and um, State visit.
Speaker:And so, you know, for a state visit, as president usually bring a lot of, um,
Speaker:you know, important, uh, business people, um, because it's also, to do business.
Speaker:So, , among the, the people he brought with him was the, the
Speaker:CEO of a company that is called.
Speaker:Insect, uh, spelled with a y and um, is apparently the world
Speaker:leader in, um, in, um, insect, um, you know, insect, um, making.
Speaker:And, um, they have big farms and, uh, they've actually, they sell a lot of
Speaker:insect already to pet food companies.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Well, if it's a stable source of protein, I mean, As you say, it
Speaker:takes a lot less carbon than, you know, feeding cows . Yes, yes.
Speaker:And um, yeah, if you check in the carbon almanac, there's um, um, there's
Speaker:a recipe of the, is there any recipe?
Speaker:Yeah, there's a recipe of a, of a burger, um, insect burger there.
Speaker:So, wow.
Speaker:So if you check the, I'll have to pull mine off the shelf and take a
Speaker:look, cuz I haven't seen that one yet, But if we talking about, , low
Speaker:carbon emission source of protein, have you heard about cultured meat?
Speaker:Cultured meat?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Well, you mean the Beyond Meat?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And The Impossible Burger.
Speaker:No, no.
Speaker:Those, um, impossible Burgers.
Speaker:Uh, impossible Burger And Beyond.
Speaker:Those are, um, let's say, uh, big and meat.
Speaker:I'm really talking about right cultured meat, uh, which is.
Speaker:Which is real, I don't know, , if I should say real meat, but it's a lab grown meat.
Speaker:So what they do is they take cells of meat and they , make it grow, , in a lab.
Speaker:And, apparently it's, uh, it's good.
Speaker:It's really good.
Speaker:And you can already buy it in restaurants and in the market.
Speaker:I think the only country that you can do it is in Singapore.
Speaker:There's a restaurant.
Speaker:does that.
Speaker:And uh, there's also, um, well actually there are a couple of restaurants
Speaker:where you can have this type of niche and uh, also it's like Franken meat.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:No, well, I dunno.
Speaker:It's, you know, this is, this is all the cultural baggage that you have.
Speaker:. But no, it's not Franken me if you wanna eat meat, and, uh, if you like meat
Speaker:and, you are, you don't want to hurt animals, well, you need to find a way.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:I guess it's a solution.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Aren't humans fascinating?
Speaker:They aren't human beings.
Speaker:Just amazing that, that these kinds of things can be dreamed up.
Speaker:I mean, I think I, we, we do an awful lot of damage and we talk
Speaker:about that a lot, but we also are very innovative and creative.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And.
Speaker:. when we need to come up with a solution, we do it.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:And that's, that's always hopeful, and yeah, this is a solution.
Speaker:I'm not saying that this is a good thing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:I'm just talking about this.
Speaker:, just to show you there's an, there's an option and
Speaker:that, , to illustrate that Yeah.
Speaker:Human beings are incredible creatures.
Speaker:, . Wow.
Speaker:So that's interesting.
Speaker:So I wonder if you can buy, like I'm, I'm a person who has a lot of allergies.
Speaker:I'm allergic to nuts.
Speaker:I'm allergic to soy.
Speaker:I'm allergic to gluten.
Speaker:Um, I try not to eat meat that isn't ethically sourced, but it's
Speaker:very hard to not eat meat at all when I can't get protein from
Speaker:tofu and I can't get protein from.
Speaker:from nuts and, and that, so I'm wondering if it's possible to source
Speaker:cricket powder or some kind of powdered insect to add into some kind
Speaker:of, you know, if I was making a pro my own protein bars, for example.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I wonder if it's possible to do that.
Speaker:I think you can, and I think you should.
Speaker:You should try.
Speaker:Oh yeah, you can try, yes.
Speaker:Yeah, cuz that might be a good, a good way to do it if I can just.
Speaker:. When I, when I was in, my husband and I were in Africa.
Speaker:We were in South Africa in 2011, I think.
Speaker:And, uh, we were on a, uh, staying in a place where, uh,
Speaker:a game range, a safari range.
Speaker:And we went out for a walk with a guide one day, and it was very fun.
Speaker:There were giraffe that were trying to hide from us behind trees, but we could
Speaker:still see them , but they were peeking.
Speaker:. Anyway, one of the things the guy did with us is he took a stick and he dug
Speaker:a hole and he stuck the hole, the stick in the hole, and he pulled out some
Speaker:kind of insect and then he ate it, and then he stuck the thing back in
Speaker:the hole and then passed the insects around to anyone who wanted to eat it.
Speaker:My husband did.
Speaker:I didn't see, but Oh my goodness.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So Husbanding experience.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But it was a treat.
Speaker:It was apparently a, a really sweet.
Speaker:and uh, something that was very common to do there and I
Speaker:thought, Hmm, interesting . Yeah.
Speaker:Maybe you'll try it.
Speaker:Maybe, maybe one day.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, this was fun.
Speaker:Now, now I, I'll take my Christmas baking to a whole new lip
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Maybe for, yeah.
Speaker:Well, so this year's Christmas , maybe my hum.
Speaker:Bugs will be . Yeah.
Speaker:That's fun.
Speaker:Well, thanks for that.
Speaker:It's good, good to know about these things and that they're available already and,
Speaker:and that more and more will be coming.
Speaker:I'll, I'll have to do some research and, uh, learn a little bit more.
Speaker:And if anybody out there knows anything or has a question about any of this,
Speaker:make sure that you, uh, you let us know.
Speaker:You can go to the Carbon Almanac and go to our carbon sessions page.
Speaker:, you can, uh, you can leave us a question.
Speaker:You can, uh, you can tell us a story about your experience eating
Speaker:insects and, uh, you never know.
Speaker:You might, uh, hear yourself on a podcast in the near future.
Speaker:Yeah, thanks leaky.
Speaker:Thank you, Jen.
Speaker:Bye.
Speaker:You've been listening to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with carbon
Speaker:conversations for every day with everyone from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:We'd love you to join the Carbon sessions so you too can share your
Speaker:perspectives from wherever you are.
Speaker:This is a great way for our community to learn from your ideas and
Speaker:experiences, connect and take action.
Speaker:If you want to add your voice to the conversation, go to the carbon
Speaker:almanac.org/podcast and sign up to be part of a future episode.
Speaker:This podcast is also part of the Carbon Almanac Network.
Speaker:For more information to sign up for the emails, to join the movement, and to
Speaker:order your copy of the Carbon Alman.
Speaker:Go to the carbon almanac.org.
Speaker:Be sure to subscribe and join us here again, as together
