Why Massachusetts is doing insect snacks right

Clam chowder devotees may rise up in protest against the idea of chips made out of powdered insects as a characteristic food of Massachusetts. But come on, how can we not give some love to the three Harvard ’13 grads who are making a product called Chirps?

Why we chose these edible critters:

The U.N. has been lauding insects as a sustainable source of protein for a while now, and Six Foods founders Wang, D’Asaro, and Nateau are trying to make bugs-as-food mainstream. The snack food company’s prototype product is Chirps: chips made of beans, rice, and cricket flour. The insectrepreneurs are also using surplus funds from their Kickstarter to start an organic cricket farm in Youngstown, Ohio, which they’ll use to source the main ingredient in Chirps.

Will people actually eat bugs?

“I ate a caterpillar on the streets of Tanzania, and was really surprised by how good it tasted,” says D’Asaro. She might be on to something: Six Foods is working with a local Cambridge chef to develop its product line, and D’Asaro says the bug-filled snacks have been a huge hit at testing events.

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