3 ms·

Im not quite sure what to say to this.

drivingmenuts 13y ago
How about: Oh, hells no. I get it: it's an experimental product that may or may not be actually healthier and more nutrient-packed than conventional foods. It might even help alleviate some of my health issues. I can't look past the whole "insect" thing. Maybe a few generations down the line, say, my grandkids kids (theoretical grandkids) may think nothing of it. But there's too much cultural inculcation for me to ever be able to contemplate eating or to actually eat something made from crickets. Unless it was the zombie apocalypse and there wasn't anything else. Maybe then. But fortunately, that's all fantasy.
- sk5t 13y ago
  Have you considered the possibility that you might be unusually (relative to the rest of the globe) quite squeamish? What makes cricket flour any worse than raw fish or a nice, runny, sunny-side-up egg? Or more directly: do you eat commercially-prepared peanut butter?
  - nhangen 13y ago
    You can't be serious? Besides the obvious physical differences, there are biological differences as well. An egg is not a slow roasted chicken.
  - drivingmenuts 13y ago
    Squeamish? I'm pretty sure I'm not. I grew up on a cattle ranch and regularly poked cow stomachs with a stick behind our local cattle processor. As a kid, I had to go out at 4am and 30 degrees F with my grandfather to deliver a breech birth calf (didn't end well). I'm not afraid of most bugs (spiders a bit, tarantulas a lot, crickets not even a smidge) but I've never had any desire to eat them. It's cultural: Bugs are not people food.
- notjosh 13y ago
  Cochineal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal) is a fairly commonly used food additive made from ground bugs. I'm sure there are a number of others that you consume, too.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- harshreality 13y ago
  Your aversion to insects is highly cultural. Plenty of cultures, especially in Asia and Africa, treat insects as common foods and even delicacies. You don't have a problem eating insects if you eat any sort of processed grains. The USDA (or equivalent agency) has distinctly non-zero limits for insect parts and rodent feces in cereal, because it's impossible to economically keep all insects and rodents out of grains.
  - __david__ 13y ago
    I understand that, but by making a Kickstarter in English, they are targeting exactly my culture, which isn't keen on eating insects. And yes, everyone knows they slip into our food supply and there's a non-zero chance that we've all eaten them unintentionally, but that doesn't logically mean I'm going to think, "well, I may as well just start going whole hog now!" This is a novelty and will never make it big in our market because the "ick factor" is just too high (for our cultural norms).
    - codereflection 13y ago
      We have to start somewhere, right?
    - coldarchon 13y ago
      >which isn't keen on eating insects. which is actually very wrong, because this only counts for the last 100 years. Before that many dishes contained insects or their like. May beetle soup was very famous for example, and dont forget that lobster and shrimps are very similar. Oh and when you brush your teeth, huge part of the paste is made of Chitosan, which is part of almost any care cosmetics. And the word "worm" is very similar in all European languages, which makes us believe they were eaten regularly in ancient times ..

How about: Oh, hells no. I get it: it's an experimental product that may or may not be actually healthier and more nutrient-packed than conventional foods. It might even help alleviate some of my health issues. I can't look past the whole "insect" thing. Maybe a few generations down the line, say, my grandkids kids (theoretical grandkids) may think nothing of it. But there's too much cultural inculcation for me to ever be able to contemplate eating or to actually eat something made from crickets. Unless it was the zombie apocalypse and there wasn't anything else. Maybe then. But fortunately, that's all fantasy.

sk5t 13y ago
Have you considered the possibility that you might be unusually (relative to the rest of the globe) quite squeamish? What makes cricket flour any worse than raw fish or a nice, runny, sunny-side-up egg? Or more directly: do you eat commercially-prepared peanut butter?
- nhangen 13y ago
  You can't be serious? Besides the obvious physical differences, there are biological differences as well. An egg is not a slow roasted chicken.
- drivingmenuts 13y ago
  Squeamish? I'm pretty sure I'm not. I grew up on a cattle ranch and regularly poked cow stomachs with a stick behind our local cattle processor. As a kid, I had to go out at 4am and 30 degrees F with my grandfather to deliver a breech birth calf (didn't end well). I'm not afraid of most bugs (spiders a bit, tarantulas a lot, crickets not even a smidge) but I've never had any desire to eat them. It's cultural: Bugs are not people food.
notjosh 13y ago
Cochineal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochineal) is a fairly commonly used food additive made from ground bugs. I'm sure there are a number of others that you consume, too.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
harshreality 13y ago
Your aversion to insects is highly cultural. Plenty of cultures, especially in Asia and Africa, treat insects as common foods and even delicacies. You don't have a problem eating insects if you eat any sort of processed grains. The USDA (or equivalent agency) has distinctly non-zero limits for insect parts and rodent feces in cereal, because it's impossible to economically keep all insects and rodents out of grains.
- __david__ 13y ago
  I understand that, but by making a Kickstarter in English, they are targeting exactly my culture, which isn't keen on eating insects. And yes, everyone knows they slip into our food supply and there's a non-zero chance that we've all eaten them unintentionally, but that doesn't logically mean I'm going to think, "well, I may as well just start going whole hog now!" This is a novelty and will never make it big in our market because the "ick factor" is just too high (for our cultural norms).
  - codereflection 13y ago
    We have to start somewhere, right?
  - coldarchon 13y ago
    >which isn't keen on eating insects. which is actually very wrong, because this only counts for the last 100 years. Before that many dishes contained insects or their like. May beetle soup was very famous for example, and dont forget that lobster and shrimps are very similar. Oh and when you brush your teeth, huge part of the paste is made of Chitosan, which is part of almost any care cosmetics. And the word "worm" is very similar in all European languages, which makes us believe they were eaten regularly in ancient times ..