| Next | Section menu | Main menu | Previous |

New on the menu

Emilie Filou: freelance correspondent, and Amy Hawkins: digital journalist, The Economist

Get ready to tuck into insects and lab-grown meat

2021 in brief

From 2021, scientific papers that result from work supported by research-funding
organisations in 16 countries must be published in “open access” journals or platforms.
The “Plan S” initiative aims to improve online access to academic journals

ALTHOUGH TWO billion people around the world regularly eat insects,

consumers in the West have historically shunned them as a food source. But

concerns about the environmental impact of food production are putting

insects on the menu: they are rich in protein and more sustainable to produce

than meats such as beef or pork.

Insect products are now available in many countries. You can buy cricket snacks in
Britain, mealworm burgers in Germany and supermarket-branded cricket powder in
Canada. But it remains a niche culinary interest: research by the International Platform
of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) estimates that 9m people in the European Union