Edible insects is a thing

And they have their own lobbyists.

At the Oyamel Cocina Mexicana in Washington, metal butterfly mobiles hang from the ceiling and bugs are on the menu.

The chapulines tacos are jammed with thumb-sized roasted grasshoppers, a delicacy head chef Colin King cooks in tequila and chipotle puree and serves with shallots.

“There’s a lot of instances when people try them for the first time where, if they can get over the mental aspect of it, then they end up really liking them,” King said. “I know I went through that when I first tried them.”

Connoisseurs of edible insects say more and more people are coming to like such dishes, which represent an untapped source of environmentally sustainable protein. And the industry is getting organized to push for further consumer — and government — acceptance.

At a conference of bug-eaters held in May in Detroit, the North American Edible Insect Coalition was organized. It plans to announce a lobbying campaign in a few months to convince the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to add mealworms, crickets protein powder and other insect products to the agency’s database of Generally Recognized as Safe ingredients, or GRAS.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.