Buzzing: A trip down the archive
Hi, how are you all this week? Apologies this comes later than usual: this is due to a tech snafu at my end 🙄.
Today in Buzzing:
A rummage through the archive
In Other News: Awards nomination galore & some good radio
Test Corner: Chocolate-coated scorpions
Having 30 editions of Buzzing under my belt, I thought it’d be interesting to delve into the archive and look back at what had created a buzz (and what had fallen flat).
My five most popular posts were:
And for comparison’s sake, the least popular were:
I don’t want to read too much into this ranking because the internet has its quirks, which can quickly distort any rational way of thinking about it. However, I found it really interesting that top of this chart, and by some margin, is the post about price. I can hear you all say: “Fine, I’ll have the insects, but how much will it cost?”
I also found it fascinating that people were more interested in philosophical questions around eating insects – how you label it, whether it is ethical – than in insects’ green potential, which is arguably why this whole industry has come to the fore in the first place. Does it mean we are done with this topic?
Few people seemed interested in insect medicine (I knew it was a geeky post) but I was surprised that the Brood X special didn’t excite more people given how mad people in the US went over it, and even more surprised that my posts on regulation weren’t in the bottom five (Buzzing readers move in mysterious ways).
It did warm my cockles however that the Africa special got such a good response, partly because the continent has been a big part of my life personally and professionally, and because this is where my edible insect journey started.
Anyway, enough introspection, I would love to hear more from you. If I am to write another 30 editions of Buzzing, what would you like to see in them? I will keep writing about big developments; there will hopefully be more field reports as travel opens up, and more products to try from different markets. But if you have any burning questions you’d like me to tackle, please send them my way.
In Other News
Graphic story
It’s been awards nomination galore recently. First it was Sanergy (a Kenyan sanitation and waste business that uses Black Soldier Flies to process human and organic waste): they are amongst the three finalists for the category “Build A Waste-Free World” of the inaugural Earthshot Prize. Winners will be announced on Sunday 17 October. Australian BSF waste management company Goterra is also a finalist of the 2021 Australian Technologies Competition. And British mealworm kit company BeoBia is in the running for the 2021 Design Intelligence Award. Go entopreneurs, go!
Sector news
I did a piece for From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4 about my visit of Ÿnsect’s mealworm farm in France.
More radio with this cracking episode of The Food Chain podcast on the BBC World Service dedicated to edible insects.
The Economist writes about edible insects again.
Great article on insect-based pet food in the US in the Washington Post.
Test Corner: Chocolate-coated scorpion
My friend Conrad Heine recently came back from an extended stay in New Zealand and he very kindly brought me back some insect goodies from Eat Crawlers. The goodie bag included two packs of cricket pasta (yum), an ant lollipop (double yum) and some chocolate-coated scorpion (😱).
Scorpions and tarantulas are my insect nemesis. I have said before that I would never eat one. Well, since this was a gift, I had to eat my words and try it. “Everything tastes better with chocolate,” Eat Crawlers’ CEO Louise Burns encouragingly wrote in a message.
It took all the courage I could muster to have just one bite. The process was made easier by the fact that you can’t discern the shape of the creature underneath the chocolate, save for the stinger. As for the taste, the first thing I tasted was chocolate, then salt, then a pungent flavour akin to dry shrimp. Needless to say I didn’t like it. I couldn’t finish it. Conrad, Louise, I am sorry.
In defence of the scorpion, I cannot say that I tried it with an open mind: I was and remain disgusted by it – in the same way that I have always been disgusted by snails and oysters – and this did impact my experience. I feel the scorpion didn’t get a fair tasting so I would love to hear from people who have enjoyed them: what am I missing?
