bug appetizerCome get some grub!Photo: Dane Larsen

Americans have issues with meat. They eat too much too often, and the means of production all too commonly end up being unhealthy for animal, person, and planet.

Maybe meat itself isn’t the problem. What if the meat Americans are eating is just too big? 

A growing trend in sustainable eating seems to favor the flavor of the small: mini cows, goats, squab (pigeons!), and most crunchy — insects. From a daily diet of caterpillars in the Congo to Brooklynites going bug-eyed over mod mealworms, entomophagy (bug eating) is slowly worming its way onto American plates.

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San Francisco chef Phil Ross needs no convincing about its environmental merit: “I have my month’s meat growing in my office. It’s taking up almost no space, it’s organically raised, it’s as fresh as I want it to be and the waste from it is garden compost.”

Comestibles creating compostables — perhaps for your organic veggie garden? What’s not to lick?

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