But have you ever considered that insects could be more nutritious, environmentally friendly, and abundant than most other foods?

Should we all be eating insects?

Compare 100 grams of crickets to 100 grams of chicken, beef, or pork, and you'll find that they have comparable protein content,

but crickets are much higher in essential vitamins and minerals such as calcium, zinc, and iron.

Similarly, insects like mealworms are low in fat and contain large amounts of fiber.

But that's not the only reason to incorporate them into your diet.

Currently, there are 1.53 billion hectares of cropland and 3.38 billion hectares of pastures covering our Earth.

Essentially, 38% of the land you see on a map is used for agriculture and farming.

But where it takes 200 square meters of land to grow 1 pound of beef, it only takes 15 square meters to grow 1 pound of crickets.

Furthermore, by 2025, its expected that 1.8 billion people will live in areas with little to no fresh water.

And yet, 70% of our fresh water sources are used in agriculture alone.

To produce 1 kilogram of beef, it takes 22,000 liters of water, whereas 1 kilogram of pork takes 3,500 liters, and 1 kilogram of chicken takes 2,300 liters.

But to make 1 kilogram of crickets?

It only requires 1 liter of water!

This is because insects can become fully hydrated just from the food that they eat.

They're also more digestible.

In fact, 80% of a cricket is edible and digestible compared to 50% of a chicken and 40% of cattle.

And its not like our mouths have never tasted insects before.

For every 100 grams of spinach, 50 small insects like aphids, thrips, and mites are permitted.

Peanut butter is allowed to contain roughly 30 insect fragments, such as heads, bodies, or legs per 100 grams.

And even the hops used to make your favorite beer can contain 250 aphids per 100 grams.

Yup, your summer beer may be spiked with a little more bug juice than you anticipated.

So, why aren't we eating insects?

They're actually consumed in some parts of Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

In fact, the capital of Congo has households eating 300 grams of caterpillars a week, which is 96 tonnes of caterpillars every year.

But much of the Western world is used to screaming in disgust if they find a bug in their salad.

This may be because western culinary traditions have spawned out of colder climates with less insects, increased farming, and larger animals to eat.

As Europeans began to colonize the world, they contextualized bug-eating as savage and primitive because they observed many indigenous people doing it.

Little did they know, bugs are actually extremely nutritious.

But while the idea of eating insects may literally be hard to swallow,

as recipes are created, insect-processing food technology evolves, and our mindsets adapt, maybe insects will become the superfood of the future.

Look out, greek yogurt and kale; there are some new kids in town.

We actually challenged ourselves to chomp down on some bugs, try out a few recipes, and eat things like cookies and snack bars using insect flour in our latest AsapTHOUGHT video.

We also discuss the role and potential for insects in helping to solve world hunger.

Make sure to click the screen or the link in the description below to check it out, and subscribe for more weekly science videos.