Does the Thought of Hunger Bug You? Have a Cricket

Forget global warming. There are a growing number of people who believe that the real crisis is a mounting food shortage, caused by people in developing nations like China and India getting wealthier and demanding more meat.

But there are people who see the future of food, and if you listen carefully, you can hear it chirping. 

For instance, John Heylin, a Canyon resident, has started a business with Megan Miller selling snack bars (called Chirp Chomp) made from cricket meal, according to the Lamorina Weekly. They purchase crickets from a Louisiana farm and processes them into a flour and adds things like honey, rice, apples and chocolate chips to the mix. These are turned into protein bars, which reportedly taste like other protein bars, and contain 65 percent protein. 

"It's like eating a super-lean steak," Heylin said. 

While that may be true, one is in fact not eating a super-lean steak, but an insect. And while insect consumption is common in many parts of the planet, America is not one such locale. In fact, an entire industry is devoted to eradicating the little critters. So Heylin and others in the insects-as-food industry are facing quite a challenge. 

A San Francisco company called Chapul, operated by two former college roommates, is also marketing a protein bar from crickets. Both companies see the energy bar format as the most likely way to get Americans to try cricket protein, since one doesn't actually see a trace of cricket. 

The food supply question is certainly a valid one, and the resources used to produce the meat most Americans take for granted are not unlimited. So it makes sense to find new, more efficient sources of protein.

Whether or not it it will come from a source that chirps, or has antennae... well, that's another question.