Crustaceans aren’t insects, for starters
Comment on shrimp is bugs
OttoVonNoob@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
A family member has bit, hook, line and sinker. Om the great reset conspiracy theory. He says Bill Gates wants to force us to eat bugs. I respond “You love shrimp?”. He states its different I don’t see the difference…
John_McMurray@lemmy.world 6 months ago
evranch@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
The difference is that shrimp are delicious? Last time you got a bug in your mouth what was your instinctive response?
The great reset is bogus but there’s definitely a “conspiracy” to get us to eat bugs… A boring, capitalist conspiracy. Just the next step in the race to the bottom, another cheap and low quality food that the unwashed masses can afford to keep them alive and trudging off to work.
I will eat bugs when I see the billionaires have them on their plates.
Leviathan@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Fuck billionaires, if eating bugs is delicious and cuts emissions from factory farming, I’m in. The environment doesn’t fit into some dick measuring contest with the rich and they don’t decide my moral position.
evranch@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
That’s the problem, it isn’t delicious. That’s why they keep coming up with schemes to use them as a protein additive, like “cricket flour”.
I raise lamb free range on pasture, no inputs other than grass, and that’s what I’ll be eating for the foreseeable future. Let me tell you, that’s delicious.
I would encourage anyone else concerned about factory farming to find a small producer, most of us will gladly even give you a tour and let you see our herds, we love to show off healthy animals on green grass. And we’re often cheaper than the supermarket these days, no greedy middlemen to mark it up.
Leviathan@lemmy.world 6 months ago
That’s the problem, it isn’t delicious. That’s why they keep coming up with schemes to use them as a protein additive, like “cricket flour”.
I’ve actually had a bunch of delicious insect based dishes, if you’re open minded about it they aren’t all that hard to find. Asian cooking is where they’re at.
I raise lamb free range on pasture, no inputs other than grass, and that’s what I’ll be eating for the foreseeable future. Let me tell you, that’s delicious.
That’s cool, I grew up raising steer and sheep, I’m also aware of the environmental issues. I also still eat them although I’ve cut it down drastically.
I would encourage anyone else concerned about factory farming to find a small producer, most of us will gladly even give you a tour and let you see our herds, we love to show off healthy animals on green grass. And we’re often cheaper than the supermarket these days, no greedy middlemen to mark it up.
I personally know many small producers, slaughter and dress my own meat, and I still think that, environmentally consciously, we should all switch to a mostly plant based diet and explore meat alternatives without fear.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
I’ve never had a raw shrimp randomly fly into my mouth out of nowhere. I don’t like it when bugs do that, but I can’t say it’s ever been an issue because of the flavor. I can’t say what the flavor even is.
There’s no “conspiracy” to eat bugs, but there is a movement, which I agree with, promoting insects as a low resource cost protein alternative to meat. If you are flour made from grasshoppers you likely wouldn’t even know unless told. I’m certain you don’t actually know what they taste like, so how can you say they taste bad?
evranch@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
Valid point. When I grew up fishing for shrimp as a kid I was quite terrified of them until I was taught how to eat them.
I can assume they taste bad, because otherwise we would all be eating them already. Humans eat just about everything on the planet if it’s tasty, even if it’s really weird.
Personally I don’t see the need for it when we have plenty of plant sources of protein like pulses, and we can raise ruminants on otherwise useless land (like my hilly, rocky farm).
It seems to me just an excuse to continue overpopulating the planet. Sure, we could develop new protein sources to feed 10 billion - but if we had kept our population to the 4 billion it was in the 1970s we could all be eating thick beef steaks and salmon without worrying about straining the carrying capacity of the planet.
Maybe we should focus on getting our population down to a sustainable level before we worry about new and exotic foods.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 6 months ago
I think the issue with them is twofold. Presentation is hard to make look alright, and I think we do have a built in aversion to them, because evolutionarily bugs mean food that’s gone bad. That said, plenty of cultures do eat bugs. It’s mostly a European thing that bugs shouldn’t be eaten. Places in both Africa and Asia do eat them, and I imagine other places as well. I have heard they can be tasty. Lobster was considered bad for a long time, but it’s delicious when prepared properly (and butter helps).
I think another good source of animal protein are oysters. They’re pretty easy to farm and they don’t have a nervous system so don’t feel pain. That said, most people think it’s disgusting to eat raw oysters (which are even alive when eaten), but they’re also delicious. It’s just a culture thing. Plenty of foods that seem disgusting aren’t.
I don’t disagree eating plant sources, but they have different nutritional profiles. Animals have nutrients that we need that you won’t get from almost any plant. We need diverse sources of food. I have no issue with small scale animal farming, but large scale is wasteful as hell. We grow so much corn to feed cows and other animals that could better be used for other things.
I disagree with this though:
It seems to me just an excuse to continue overpopulating the planet.
What is “overpopulate” mean? If everyone is fed and taken care of, isn’t that by definition not overpopulated? Who decides what the correct amount of people is? If you’re religious then certainly more people alive means whatever god(s) decided that, and if you aren’t then you must know it’s arbitrary. More people isn’t bad, as long as it’s sustainable and doesn’t cause damage to the planet. That said, we are causing damage to the planet and we aren’t going to stop reproducing just because someone said so. We should reduce the impact people have instead, because that’s the only real choice we have. A mandate stopping reproduction is not a real choice.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Bill Gates came to my house last night with a gun and a plate of cockroaches.
He told me if I didn’t eat it he would shoot my family and shoot me last.
Leviathan@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Listen, he should’ve at least offered to kill you first. That’s the problem with billionaires these days; no honor.