UC Riverside: Good grub
Well, Sparky might eat crickets, but I wouldn’t ask him to.
More than 2 billion people regularly eat insects — on purpose. They’re a great source of protein for communities around the world and some are considered delicacies reserved for special occasions. And it’s entirely possible that eating bugs could become more common in the U.S. too.
This topic comes up regularly. The 2 billion people who regularly eat insects on purpose, do so because they are poor. This only becomes common in America if we have to repay our federal debt. That’s currently running at $100,000 per person. Imagine if the USDA changed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to just provide poor people with a bunch of crickets. Democrats would only go for that if White men were the only people on food stamps. At least give them some chickens to turn the crickets into eggs and meat.
Sparky and I aren’t poor, so he isn’t going to be eating crickets and meal worms, but why isn’t that ever suggested?
Pedigree dry dog food is a third the price of Blue Buffalo. Sparky eats too much, but that still isn’t very much. Getting the good stuff costs an extra twenty bucks per month. The first ingredient in Pedigree is corn, the second is unspecified meat and bone meal. The bag says “Grilled steak & Vegetable Flavor”. Natural grilled steak flavor is the 15th ingredient.
In the US, $16 billion dollars is spent on dog food. Dogs need protein. Crickets and meal worms are an efficient source of protein. Why do the articles never suggest adding bugs to dog food? If insects are considered to be meat, then they could already be in there. Crickets wouldn’t even be in the top 10 list of disgusting things Sparky puts in his mouth. He ate a stink bug once, and instantly regretted it.
