California’s first edible cricket farm to open
That’s what entrepreneur Elliot Mermel is hoping will happen. The 25-year-old is jumping into the emerging edible insect industry by opening what he calls California’s first urban cricket farm for human consumption in Van Nuys.
“I asked the question everybody else asks at first,” Mermel said Friday. “Who the hell is going to eat a cricket?”
As it turns out, at least 2 billion people worldwide eat insects as part of their diet, and the cricket is being looked at as a healthy, protein- and mineral-packed food source that could help sustain a growing global population.
2 billion humans eat insects? Who eats crickets and other insects in America? Not me. Who eats insects in America? I don't know. Maybe the same trendy eaters who go to trendy restaurants for minimum meals at maximum prices eat insects. The Insect Diet is coming to America! It will be all the rage, you wait and see! Soon the American diet is going to include edible crickets and other insects? I can see it now. Organic supermarkets throughout America will be featuring an "Organic Insects" section. No doubt soon I will be getting flyers announcing their weekly sales. "Edible crickets and grasshoppers: 2 for $10!"
Or this scene, coming soon to an upscale trendy L.A. edible insects restaurant:
Server to diner: "Hello, I will be your server this evening. Are you ready to order? Would you like an appetizer?"
Diner: "Yes, I'd like to order now. As an appetizer I'd like the Cute and Cuddly Crickets. For the entree, I'd like the Warm Wiggly Worms. With a side order of Cooked Cockroaches and Sauteed Spiders. And a glass of iced beetle juice. Oh, and a large barf bag for dessert."
