VIDEO: Marcel Dicke, ‘Why not eat insects?’
Posted by Monique van Dusseldorp on December 10, 2009 at 3:05 pm
TEDxAmsterdam: Marcel Dicke from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.
Prof. dr. Marcel Dicke is an ecologist with a special interest in the relation between plants and insects. He is a recipient of the NWO-Spinoza award, also known as the Dutch Nobel prize. The central theme in his research is the way that plants define the lives of insects. In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he explains why we should all eat insects! His surprising talk was followed by the serving of some delicious snacks…
Links and reports
- Home page of Prof dr Marcel Dicke at Wageningen University
- NRC International, Christmas dinner in 2020: crickets in cranberry sauce (abbr. text of Marcel Dicke’s talk)
- NRC / NRC Next: Insecten in het kerstdiner (pdf)
- (Dutch) Marcel Dicke: de knop moet om
- (Dutch) Joris van Heukelom interviewt Marcel Dicke
“‘Why not eat insects?’ This question might be one posed often enough before, but rarely has it been supported with such a wealth of surprising facts. Insects contributed $57 billion to the US economy in 2006 by removing dung, pollinating plants , controlling pests and letting themselves be eaten by animals. He also pointed out that we already eat a lot of insects, about 500g a year, without realising; most food contains insects in some shape or form, to the extent that US legislation sets limits on the amount of insect parts that can make up a product (it’s 60 ‘insect components’ per 100g of chocolate). And humans are already eating insects: about 4500 species are already eaten (deliberately) worldwide, mainly in China.”‘
As a special bonus, please find below a short movie on the preparation of the insects for consumption at TEDxAmsterdam. They were delicious! Thanks to the culinary team composed of:
- Marian Peter, Bug’s Plaza en Venik
- Michael and Jan Ruig, of Bugs Organic Food
- Kreca, (for all your living and freeze-dried insects)
- Jan Robben of Jan Robben’s strawberries (who also wrote about TEDxAmsterdam on the fruit and vegetable website (in Dutch)
- Robert van Beckhoven, Patissier
The video was made by Rik Mahieu of Visual Nostalgia.
TEDxAmsterdam | Bug Pastry from toscani on Vimeo.
Below Marcel Dicke’s short introduction video (also by Rik Mahieu of Visual Nostalgia)
Prof. Dr. Marcel Dicke | Preview from toscani on Vimeo.
