Entomophagy Anthropology
JULIE LESNIK
Associate Professor
Dept of Anthropology
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
  • Home
  • About Julie
  • Blog
  • Potential Grad Students
  • Conference
  • Contact
  • Homework Help
  • Press
  • Links
  • Photos

More to me than Bugs

1/22/2015

0 Comments

 
You likely saw the below picture when I shared it on Facebook or Twitter back in October..
I had only been at Wayne State for a short while when I met someone in marketing and communications at CLAS (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences).  They were immediately interested in my work on edible insects, which made me someone to keep in mind when it comes to promoting the work of WSU faculty.

A short while later I received a mock-up of the below image, with a fake quote "eating bugs is cool!" It absolutely cracked me up.  I would post it here, but I don't really want my image with that fake quote out on the interwebs because it does make me sound ridiculous out of context.  However, I was given a questionnaire so that they could pull a real quote from me.  Questions were things like:  Why anthropology?  Why entomophagy?  What was your favorite book?  What did you want to be when you grow up?  When did you know you wanted to be an academic? etc.

I gave many quote-worthy entomophagy statements, but I was taken aback when they decided to use a statement about teaching instead. 

All of the interest in entomophagy lately has been a bit of a whirlwind.  I have been studying insects in the human diet for almost a decade now, but it has only been in the most recent years that the world is starting to really care.  I consider myself lucky in terms of my favorite definition of the word - preparation meets opportunity.  All of a sudden the opportunity is there for my work to be of public interest.  I am amazed by all the momentum I currently have, but it took this CLAS promotional material to remind me that I have been preparing for this for a very long time.  I am a teacher first and foremost.  It is what I love and what I have wanted to do my entire adult life.  It meant a lot to me that CLAS found this fact just as interesting or important as my trendy research topic.

"#FacultyFacts highlight CLAS profs inspiring @waynestate students in and out of the classroom.  Meet @JulieLesnik"


I am truly proud to be a Wayne State Warrior.




Picture
0 Comments

ConFusion on January 17!

1/9/2015

0 Comments

 
ConFusion is a local/regional science fiction convention based in the Metro Detroit area, this year being held at the DoubleTree in Dearborn January 16-18.  In addition to programming about sci-fi books/movies/etc, the annual convention makes sure to highlight scientists as well.  This year I have been asked to participate in the scientific programming!  I am very excited because the scientists represented at these sorts of events tend to fall in line more with physics and astronomy than they do anthropology!  But one thing is for sure, sci-fi people are forward thinkers, and I hope to drum up some interest in the future of insect-based foods.

I will be participating in a panel called "Bugs, Magic and Protein" at 1:00 on Saturday January 17th.  In addition to discussing my research in paleoanthropology, I will be highlighting the research presented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on the benefits of insects as foods.  One thing I will be presenting are the amazing info-graphics created by the Austin-bsed nonprofit, Little Herds.  These images capture the striking amount of resources our traditional livestock use to produce just one kilogram of food.  Below is the one that startles me the most.  Fresh water is a very limited resource.  People love to blow through it like it is infinite; watering "lawns" in Nevada and taking hour-long showers.  I always say that wars will be fought over water one day just as they are fought now over oil.  It takes so little water to raise crickets as feed.
Picture


Also very exciting is that I will be bringing Hopper Bars, cricket-flour based protein bars, to the Con for people to try!  You may have heard of them from their successful $30,000 Kickstarter campaign.  I am working with them to bring bite-size samples for people to try.  The Hopper mission:
Picture
"Hopper Food's mission is to help normalise entomophagy (eating insects) by creating great tasting, nutritious and healthy products that people will want to eat every day. We believe this is important because insects are a sustainable source of high quality protein which we need to capitalize on if we are to feed our growing population. In addition insects are a delicacy which are highly prized in the native cuisines of many cultures. We want to introduce this to a wider audience at home. Our first offering, the Hopper Bar, is an all natural energy bar which is perfect for anyone with an active lifestyle who is conscious of what they put in their body and where it came from."

I am honored to have been embraced by the "entomophagy community."  We are a small, but growing group.  It is exemplary of the community that I can just reach out and then receive the resources I need to put together an amazing presentation.  We are all working toward a common goal, whether we are academics, business owners, or just socially engaged members of society, and that is to bring awareness to insects as a sustainable food source that should be cultivated at greater scales in order to create a better tomorrow.

So if you are a geek in metro-Detroit, I suggest you check out ConFusion.  It's going to be an amazing couple of days and it just so happens that I will be there talking about eating bugs.
0 Comments

    Author

    Julie Lesnik received her PhD studying the role of termites in the diet of fossil hominins and has since started exploring insects as food more broadly.

    Categories

    All
    Anthropology
    Delicious
    Human Evolution
    Industry
    Outreach
    Q&A
    Research
    Sutainability
    Travel
    Writing

    Archives

    February 2023
    December 2020
    May 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    RSS Feed

    Tweets by @JulieLesnik
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.