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Would You Eat Insects to Help the Planet? I NOVA Now

NOVA PBS Official | October 12, 2025



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You may think of insects as creepy-crawly pests. But for at least 2 billion people on the planet, they’re a source of nourishment.

Entomophagy, the practice of eating insects, has been around for thousands of years. But it isn’t a global practice today; cuisine in Europe and the U.S. tends to exclude insects. Could that change?

The culinary case for insects is a compelling one—but it’s not the only one. A 2013 UN food and agriculture report proposed insect consumption as a possible solution to global food insecurity and a mitigator of climate change. Lately, efforts by scientists and entrepreneurs have pushed this agenda forward.

To learn more about edible insects and what it might take for insects to take a more prominent place on people’s plates, Dr. Alok Patel speaks with two entomologists and tours a Bay-Area based company specializing in protein-packed insect-based treats.

NOVA Now is a production of GBH and PRX. It’s produced by:
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Ari Daniel
Jocelyn Gonzales
Isabel Hibbard
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Rosalind Tordesillas

Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt are the co-Executive Producers of NOVA.
Dante Graves is Director of Audience Development.
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Devin Robins is Managing Producer of Podcasts at GBH.

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© WGBH Educational Foundation 2021

Written by NOVA PBS Official

Comments

This post currently has 38 comments.

  2. @bryanshoemaker6120

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    No, that is the stupidest thing I've heard. Why would you eat insects when you can feed the insects to something that will actually provide meat. I will go full-blown cannibal before I eat at insects.

  18. @MrBenedetto016

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    Would You Eat Insects?

    E ventually we all are going to. . .
    A t least it will good for nature, right?
    T o be honest why not?

    S ure it'd be a little strange at first. . .
    H ow would you know otherwise?
    I n a matter of years all this will be true. . .
    T o say goodbye to all the juicy groceries is inevitable, I guess . .

  21. @dallas69

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    Farm bead very very crunchy almost burnt.
    Yes
    Most insect eating populations cook their insects till they are like crackers or hard toast. Cooked till semi burnt crunchy little bits. Food grade would have be be very sterile farm raised poo pee cleaned crunchy maybe sugar coated insects.
    Not like the insect in your yard.

  23. @mascadadelpantion8018

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    I suppose eating in sex has never been nearly as bad as people say it is. But just like pretty much any other delicacy or food or whatever! It definitely matters on how you prepare it! Like sausage or anything else, I'll eat it if it tastes good and sure I'll try anything for the first time. It's just it has to be prepared in an appealing way!!!!!!

    There's all these weird different ways when I see roasted grasshoppers or crunchy beetles or something else. And the whole Hook is that you're eating a bug and it looks like a bug! Could you imagine the horror that I would have if going down to eat at the dinner table I just see a cow's head!? I suppose I always know that I'm eating a turkey but I don't really want to be reminded this was a eating living breathing thing every 5 seconds

  29. @elinope4745

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    Society would have to change a lot first. I am not going to sacrifice that in order to preserve this. Also the people whom pulled in all the immigrants need to make the greatest sacrifices and live with the fewest resources before I lower my quality of lifestyle in order to fix the damage they did. There would be a whole lot fewer mouths to feed had they not been artificially increasing the population. They did it, they are responsible for giving up stuff before I do.

  34. @filonin2

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    Nope. Why would I eat bugs when lab grown meat is right around the corner, doesn't involve killing at all, and isn't bugs in your mouth? Why would anyone think this would catch on when there is a less disgusting, less cruel alternative???

  35. @venividivici1982

    October 12, 2025 at 3:31 pm

    What about putting in prison the 1% of the population that own the 99 % of world wealth.
    And in prison they can eat insects and rats.
    Did you liked my idea??
    Trust me after that the planet will heal itself

Comments are closed.

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