Industrial food production, trans-continental/trans-oceanic food distribution, and processing systems have led us down an unsustainable path. Insects are a whole food, easy to rear locally without transportation or complex processing, and yet, they supply safe, delicious sources of prebiotics. Cultural background plays a significant role in adoption of insects for food, feed, and fertilizer. We explore details of how a country of 220 million people is transitioning from a traditional food system where edible insects have a place of high value to a food system where insects are mass produced locally and incorporated into the food system as a nutritional staple already highly regarded. We will compare what could be possible in the Hawaiian Islands with what has been developed in 20,000 food insect farms in northern Thailand where climatic conditions are similar. We consider the way in which Indigenous peoples of the western, contiguous USA read the land and its resources and used insects as a protein source in areas where land did not support large herds of bison, antelope, deer, or elk. We explore how a circuitous path seems to be returning this sovereign food to Native food systems. Opportunities abound with edible insects to human and companion animal health as well as environmental health.
Elsevier, Future Food Systems:Exploring Global Production, Processing, Distribution and Consumption, 2024, Pages 177-190
