Eat the Beetles!: An Exploration into Our Conflicted Relationship with Insects

By David Waltner-Toews

Will eating insects change the world for the better?​

Meet the beetles: there are millions and millions of them and many fewer of the rest of us — mammals, birds, and reptiles. Since before recorded history, humans have eaten insects. While many get squeamish at the idea, entomophagy — people eating insects — is a possible way to ensure a sustainable and secure food supply for the eight billion of us on the planet.

Once seen as the great enemy of human civilization, destroying our crops and spreading plagues, we now see insects as marvellous pollinators of our food crops and a potential source of commercial food supply. From upscale restaurants where black ants garnish raw salmon to grubs as pub snacks in Paris and Tokyo, from backyard cricket farming to high-tech businesses, Eat the Beetles! weaves these cultural, ecological, and evolutionary narratives to provide an accessible and humorous exploration of entomophagy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Release date: May 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781773050355

David Waltner-Toews

David Waltner-Toews is an internationally celebrated veterinary epidemiologist, eco-health,  and One Health specialist. He has published more than 20 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry

Reviews for Eat the Beetles!

[bemislibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a look at how eating one of the 1,900 edible insect species in the world may reduce hunger and starvation. The book looks at how insects evolved, their impact on humans, human impact on insects, and their role in culinary delights. He included examples where insects consumed for survival turned into valuable cash crops. If not food for the stomach, the theories presented are certainly food for thought. The author used over five hundred scholarly and popular books, papers, and websites to research insect for the book. The author included a selected biography, endnotes, and index.I received this book through a random giveaway. Although encouraged as a courtesy to provide feedback, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.