United Nations Popularizes Insects on Mexican Menus NTDTV
go to original October 5, 2013

Mexico's taste for eating insects - originating from the Pre-Columbian era - could be the answer to ending hunger. United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) is encouraging the production of edible insects to supplement diets in areas where malnutrition is rife and as a measure to combat obesity. (NTDTV)

All things creepy and crawly are enjoying their moment in the culinary spotlight after the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, recently recommended insect consumption as a way of combatting global hunger.

Nowhere has the message been more warmly received than in Mexico where insects have been part of the diet for hundreds of years.

Pre-Columbian civilizations in the country ate them frequently because meat through cattle raising did not exist. Although conquistadors discouraged insect consumption, ethnic groups in the region continued to eat them.

According to the UN agency some two billion people, a third of the world's population, already consume edible insects.

Globally more than 1,900 species of insects are eaten, including grasshoppers, termites and flies. Apart from Mexico, they are also enjoyed in Africa and Asia.

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