Beppe Grillo’s recipe: “We use insects in school canteen menus”

The first to be mentioned are the crickets but it is only a coincidence that the homonymy it’s about the founder of the 5-star Movement who talks about sustainable nutrition on his blog. In fact, in the space dedicated to topics, questions and reflections of all kinds, Beppe Grillo reserves an ad hoc space for the food of tomorrow, which appears increasingly present in the “Future Earth”, as the section of the digital area that deals with related issues is called to the future of the only world we have. He does this with a focus on edible insects, “about 2,000 species […] all over the world, many of which are rich in proteins, such as fly larvae, mealworms, crickets, locusts etc… “.

They are insects that represent a‘alternative to traditional proteins present in meat and soy, and which are also good for the planet, says the grillino, in name and also in fact. “This could help reduce the 64 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year by the production and consumption of meat products” he points out a few hours after the World Environment Day which was celebrated last Sunday 5 June. To give substance to the statement, the blog mentions a project carried out since 2020, in collaboration with Bug Farm Food, by researchers from the‘Cardiff and University of‘UWE in Bristol who are experimenting with insect-based meals to offer to the little ones. With a product called VeXo, a combination of crickets, larvae, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, mealworms that mix with vegetable proteins to put on the plate of schoolchildren, between 5 and 11 years old, who attend primary schools of the United Kingdom. Aim of the research: to discover how children deal with environmental issues and if they affect their way of eating.

“The voices of young people are becoming increasingly important in discussions about the future environmental and animal welfare – explains Professor Christopher Bear among the promoters of the project -. But there is still little research on how these values ​​translate into food consumption attitudes and practices among children. This research project is a‘opportunity for us to discover how young people of school age see the role of edible insects and vegetable proteins as more sustainable and ethical future foods ”. The idea of ​​proposing worms in the canteen to Italian children is not yet in the pentastellata agenda. But it might just be a matter of time.