I had the great privilege of attending the second Insects to Feed the World conference held this time in Wuhan, China. The first one was four years ago in the Netherlands, spearheaded by Arnold van Huis and the University of Wageningen. I did not attend in 2014 so this was my first opportunity to meet Arnold van Huis, which was a bit of a starstruck moment for me. He was first author on the 2013 UN FAO statement that I think of as a rocket booster for my career. It was an amazing feeling that in his opening keynote address he mentioned my research on an ancient termite mound at Olduvai Gorge, so it was a bit easier to introduce myself to him after that. It gave me a talking point to tell him that that paper won't be out for some time still and that the news picked up my talk from the Paleoanthropology Society meetings although the articles never credited it as such.
The conference was an amazing experience and I want to share some of my takeaways:
So many black soldier flies!
This conference, like all edible insects conferences thus far, including my own, featured insects as both food and feed. And it was the first time that I started to wonder how much longer this joint effort would continue, at least in terms of conference programming. The food side of things was still lamenting issues of consumer acceptance and legislative barriers while the feed side of things was presenting cutting edge research on rearing insects (most commonly black soldier fly larvae) as feed for livestock. It was a little too familiar of a "late bloomer" feeling - watching your friend hit a new life stage while leaving you behind in the dust.
Ultimately I think the momentum the feed crowd has is good for all. The technology that they are developing with their better-funded research is transferable in many ways to food insects. So once of the food side of things catches up in normalization, there is a lot of groundwork that has already been laid. The problem with this on the conference programming side is that all the industry players from both sides - farmers, companies, and agriculture researchers - were tied up in these talks and the parallel programming that was specifically focused on the social aspects of insects as food were not as well attended.
Ultimately I think the momentum the feed crowd has is good for all. The technology that they are developing with their better-funded research is transferable in many ways to food insects. So once of the food side of things catches up in normalization, there is a lot of groundwork that has already been laid. The problem with this on the conference programming side is that all the industry players from both sides - farmers, companies, and agriculture researchers - were tied up in these talks and the parallel programming that was specifically focused on the social aspects of insects as food were not as well attended.
Ethno-entomophagy
I presented in and chaired the session on ethno-entomophagy. And I shouldn't say the session wasn't well attended because it probably had 50 people or so in there. But I personally feel (and whether this is warranted or just my ego speaking is a debatable) that everyone who works with edible insects in any way would benefit from understanding their cultural significance around the world. So I am going to take the time to give shout-outs to the ethno presentations here:
Research and development of Ophiocordyceps sinensis
R. Han and L. Cao
Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a fungus that grows on caterpillars on the Tibetan plateau and is used in traditional Chinese medicine for a wide range of aliments (News to me! So cool!). Han's talk emphasized the importance of this resource for local people and presented his research on large-scale cultivation of host insects (Thitarodes armoricanus and T. jianchuanensis). They have had success rearing these long-lived species, infecting the adults with the fungus, and harvesting the resulting blooms.
Domestication of African gourmet caterpillars
D. Ambühl
To start, I loved Ambühl's decision to use the word "gourmet" to reflect that these caterpillars are not just edible, they are greatly enjoyed as food. He presented the work he has been doing with Congolese biologist Augustin Konda to domesticate saturniid caterpillars and rear them as agricultural livestock in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are no longer found. This project works closely with local people and the children are especially excited to be involved. You can follow their progress on their youtube channel. Definitely go check it out!
Review of past and current status of insects for food and feed in Kenya: reintroducing entomophagy
M.A. Ayieko
I was lucky to be in two sessions with Dr. Monica Ayieko. She is brilliant and well-spoken and everyone should be in the room any time she is presenting. Her talk reviewed the historic use of insects as food in Kenya, current scientific work being done on the topic, and the future prospects of edible insects in human and animal nutrition in Kenya. The main point of her talk was a call for collaboration. There is much that needs to be done in order to rear insects on a scale that can be useful for alleviating the challenges of food security. The many different edible species require a specific understanding of their life cycles, etc., and she wants anyone who is interested to come and help them figure these things out in Kenya!
Women and edible insects: a deep, deep history
J. Lesnik
I presented next and can I say that I am most proud that I was able to keep my own talk within the allotted time? It's a weird piece of pride I have to not go over time, even when I don't have someone holding up signs. Anyway, I digress. I used the 15 minutes to present the overarching theme of my upcoming book (I will present on the Olduvai termite mound at the upcoming Eating Insects Athens (Georgia) conference August 13-15.. Register here!). Women in foraging societies consume insects more than men and this pattern is not restricted to humans, it is also well represented in the great apes, especially chimpanzees, and can be found across the Primate order. Therefore I think it is safe to say that our ancient ancestors were likely displaying a similar pattern. The fact that females rely on them so heavily is a testament to their utility and we should celebrate edible insects as such.
Settlement behaviour of new queens of the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina
T. Phusakhon and D. Wiwatwitaya
Phusakhon presented her research on the ecology of weaver ant queens establishing new colonies. This species is a prominent and important economic edible insect of Thailand and if they are ever going to be cultivated then it is important to understand how new colonies are established in the wild. It is important to remember that social insects like ants, bees, and termites are architects of their homes and that temperature regulation is a major factor to consider. Her work was fascinating showing how the queens are highly selective in choosing their settlement sites with the majority of queens being found on the west sides of trees and on leaves that are superimposed, not curled. If cultivation is to be successful, it is important to consider such factors in creating habitats for captive colonies.
I was very proud of this session and I believe that familiarizing ourselves with the different ways people consume insects is an important step to helping people see them as actual food, not just something "others" eat. To that point, I am grateful that there was a special side session dedicated to understanding how our colonial histories affect edible insects research and industry.
Research and development of Ophiocordyceps sinensis
R. Han and L. Cao
Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a fungus that grows on caterpillars on the Tibetan plateau and is used in traditional Chinese medicine for a wide range of aliments (News to me! So cool!). Han's talk emphasized the importance of this resource for local people and presented his research on large-scale cultivation of host insects (Thitarodes armoricanus and T. jianchuanensis). They have had success rearing these long-lived species, infecting the adults with the fungus, and harvesting the resulting blooms.
Domestication of African gourmet caterpillars
D. Ambühl
To start, I loved Ambühl's decision to use the word "gourmet" to reflect that these caterpillars are not just edible, they are greatly enjoyed as food. He presented the work he has been doing with Congolese biologist Augustin Konda to domesticate saturniid caterpillars and rear them as agricultural livestock in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are no longer found. This project works closely with local people and the children are especially excited to be involved. You can follow their progress on their youtube channel. Definitely go check it out!
Review of past and current status of insects for food and feed in Kenya: reintroducing entomophagy
M.A. Ayieko
I was lucky to be in two sessions with Dr. Monica Ayieko. She is brilliant and well-spoken and everyone should be in the room any time she is presenting. Her talk reviewed the historic use of insects as food in Kenya, current scientific work being done on the topic, and the future prospects of edible insects in human and animal nutrition in Kenya. The main point of her talk was a call for collaboration. There is much that needs to be done in order to rear insects on a scale that can be useful for alleviating the challenges of food security. The many different edible species require a specific understanding of their life cycles, etc., and she wants anyone who is interested to come and help them figure these things out in Kenya!
Women and edible insects: a deep, deep history
J. Lesnik
I presented next and can I say that I am most proud that I was able to keep my own talk within the allotted time? It's a weird piece of pride I have to not go over time, even when I don't have someone holding up signs. Anyway, I digress. I used the 15 minutes to present the overarching theme of my upcoming book (I will present on the Olduvai termite mound at the upcoming Eating Insects Athens (Georgia) conference August 13-15.. Register here!). Women in foraging societies consume insects more than men and this pattern is not restricted to humans, it is also well represented in the great apes, especially chimpanzees, and can be found across the Primate order. Therefore I think it is safe to say that our ancient ancestors were likely displaying a similar pattern. The fact that females rely on them so heavily is a testament to their utility and we should celebrate edible insects as such.
Settlement behaviour of new queens of the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina
T. Phusakhon and D. Wiwatwitaya
Phusakhon presented her research on the ecology of weaver ant queens establishing new colonies. This species is a prominent and important economic edible insect of Thailand and if they are ever going to be cultivated then it is important to understand how new colonies are established in the wild. It is important to remember that social insects like ants, bees, and termites are architects of their homes and that temperature regulation is a major factor to consider. Her work was fascinating showing how the queens are highly selective in choosing their settlement sites with the majority of queens being found on the west sides of trees and on leaves that are superimposed, not curled. If cultivation is to be successful, it is important to consider such factors in creating habitats for captive colonies.
I was very proud of this session and I believe that familiarizing ourselves with the different ways people consume insects is an important step to helping people see them as actual food, not just something "others" eat. To that point, I am grateful that there was a special side session dedicated to understanding how our colonial histories affect edible insects research and industry.
The Importance of Decolonizing Edible Insects
Thanks to Charlotte Payne and John Kinyuru for organizing a panel titled "A discussion of neo-colonial approaches to edible insects and how we can work to decolonise the field in both research and industry." This is a topic that I think every single person attending the conference should have been exposed to, but of course, only the people who already had some familiarity with the concept were the ones that attended the discussion. Therefore I am glad that we were able to record it so that everyone can see. You can watch it here.
The panelists were:
Dr. Komi Fiaboe. Senior Scientist, Leader of the Insect for Food and Feed Program, ICIPE
Dr. Afton Halloran. Consultant - Sustainable Food Systems, Former GREEiNSECT PhD Fellow
Dr. Monica Ayieko. Consumer Scientist, Jooust- Kenyan University
Dr. Amy Franklin, DVM. Farms for Orphans
Dr. Julie Lesnik. Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University
Each of the participants spoke for 5-10 minutes on their personal experiences with overcoming the bias against insects as food that comes from our colonial history. I then wrapped up the presentation part of the session with a very short anthropology-professor lecture about the topic (26:45-32:55) before we opened the discussion to everyone in the room.
A few key takeaway points:
Please check out the video of the panel. I also highly recommend you watch my lecture on Why Don't We Eat Insects in Western Culture if you are new to this concept and want to better understand the impact of our colonial history on edible insects today. I also have another blog post that discusses the topic that you might find useful.
The panelists were:
Dr. Komi Fiaboe. Senior Scientist, Leader of the Insect for Food and Feed Program, ICIPE
Dr. Afton Halloran. Consultant - Sustainable Food Systems, Former GREEiNSECT PhD Fellow
Dr. Monica Ayieko. Consumer Scientist, Jooust- Kenyan University
Dr. Amy Franklin, DVM. Farms for Orphans
Dr. Julie Lesnik. Department of Anthropology, Wayne State University
Each of the participants spoke for 5-10 minutes on their personal experiences with overcoming the bias against insects as food that comes from our colonial history. I then wrapped up the presentation part of the session with a very short anthropology-professor lecture about the topic (26:45-32:55) before we opened the discussion to everyone in the room.
A few key takeaway points:
- How we talk about insects as food matters because we are currently limited by a vernacular that portrays them as an "uncivilized" food choice.
- Funding opportunities for edible insects research is greater in "Western" countries, but we should not be leading the conversation. We need to collaborate with and give credit to researchers in the countries where we conduct our research.
- As industry grows we need to be mindful of how it impacts the small-scale farmers that have been making this their livelihood for generations.
Please check out the video of the panel. I also highly recommend you watch my lecture on Why Don't We Eat Insects in Western Culture if you are new to this concept and want to better understand the impact of our colonial history on edible insects today. I also have another blog post that discusses the topic that you might find useful.
Associating with Associations!
The last thing I want to mention was just how awesome it was to see representatives of the different regional associations come together to discuss their programs and share knowledge. There has been some speculation on whether a "world association" should be founded, but I think that no one needs an additional annual membership they need to keep up with, and that all the benefits of such an association can be had by making sure these sorts of collaborative conversations continue. I foresee that this will be a highlight of every IFW conference from here on out. I will not attempt to summarize the session as this was outside of my area of expertise (you can read a bit about it here), but I do want to give you links to the associations that were present:
The Asian Food and Feed Insect Association- AFFIA
Insect Protein Association of Australia - IPAA
International Platform for Insects as Feed and Food - IPIFF (Europe based)
North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture - NACIA
The Asian Food and Feed Insect Association- AFFIA
Insect Protein Association of Australia - IPAA
International Platform for Insects as Feed and Food - IPIFF (Europe based)
North American Coalition for Insect Agriculture - NACIA
Final Impression: Energizing
After attending my first edible insects conference in Montreal in 2014 I was so inspired by the energy and commaraderie I felt that I offered to host Eating Insects Detroit in 2016. Some people, including myself, sometimes look at this decision as one of naivete, but it was just something I felt I had to do. I needed to bring this group of people together again. Four years later I still feel the same way after saying goodbye. I am excited that Eating Insects Athens is just around the corner and look forward to being an attendee at the next IFW conference, wherever it may land.
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