Edible Insect Update

Washington lobbyists eager to eat bugs now have a place to indulge their appetites.

Located in the city’s Penn Quarter, Oyamel Cocina Mexicana serves tacos stuffed with roasted grasshoppers soaked in tequila. That’s not such a stretch, maybe, for people already used to the worm in the tequila bottle.

Of course, anybody these days can pick up Chapul cricket-flour protein bars. They’re sold now at Publix.

These are healthy developments for the “insect-eating community,” which is now represented by the 30-company North American Edible Insect Coalition (NAEIC), established this past spring.

More Sustainable

Insect protein is sustainable in ways that beef, for example, is not, says Robert Nathan Allen, founder and director of Little Herds, an NAEIC member.

For now, public education is a bigger priority than lobbying, per se, Allen says. He sees a “trend in recognizing alternative protein sources that meet the public’s growing demand for foods that are safe, nutritious, sustainable, ethical and transparent, even if they are a little strange to most folks.

“Insects as food and feed are continuously being recognized as something more than a reality show stunt or gag.”