Termites Are Abundant In The Wild, But The Tastiest Are Not Always Easy To Come By

The fact that most of the world has been pressuring America and much of Europe into consuming edible insects for the past few years should not be news to anyone. Of course, westerners are literally having a hard time stomaching the thought of eating bugs. The pressure to start regularly eating insects is even coming from the United Nations. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN released a report in 2013 that urged all people living in the world to start eating insects in order to provide a rapidly growing global population with continued sustenance. The negative consequences that could result from massive overpopulation have been discussed by thinkers for centuries, but nobody could have expected the forced consumption of bugs to be one of those consequences. Although most westerners are not eager to take on a diet rich in creepy-crawlies, people living in edible insect-friendly countries seem to think certain insects taste pretty good. Termites are often reported as being one of the most tasty types of insects. Apparently, not all types of termite are considered equal in the taste department. It has been claimed that winged termites (alates) are particularly tasty. Some types of termites, like termite queens of certain species, are even considered delicacies in many countries.

Termites

In developing countries, termites are considered to be one of the most nutritious food sources that are widely available in the wild. In many Asian countries, edible termites are a part of everyday life. While termites are one of the most abundant insect species on earth, transporting termites from the ground soil to the dinner plate is not always easy. The availability of edible termites varies depending on the season. In Africa, termites are particularly easy to catch during the monsoon season. Termite alates are one of the most sought after types of termites, and they can be found swarming en mass after the first rains begin at the end of the dry season in most African countries. However, they can be difficult to come by during the rest of the year. Termite queens are considered a delicacy in just about every country where insects are consumed by humans. Typically, there exists only one queen per colony, making them hard to catch, and therefore, relatively expensive. Despite their rarity, some African countries such as Uganda and Zambia provide the highly nutritious queens to malnourished children and pregnant women, as they are given priority. In order to make termite yields more consistent and abundant throughout the year, the Kenyan Industrial Development Department is working on developing more sophisticated termite traps that can be constructed relatively easily by villagers. These traps will be able to catch a greater number of termites, thus improving the state of public health in the termite-rich nation and elsewhere around the globe.

Have you ever visited a restaurant only to find termites on the menu?