Cricket Coop /
Allison Paige Guy
Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano

Members of the order Orthoptera – crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids – are prized in several areas around the world not just for their appealing “singing”, but for the fact that they’re an easily accessible, high-protein source of food. These insects have joined other edible insects, spiders, worms, snails and ‘pest’ species that have only recently begun to make inroads into Western cuisine. The renewed interest in insects as an alternative protein source is a response to the growing awareness about the wastefulness of producing vertebrate protein. New studies estimate that livestock is responsible for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and requires 66% of all arable land. Beef is particularly inefficient, requiring 7 pounds of feed and 53 gallons of water to produce a single quarter-pound hamburger. In contrast, crickets need 12 times less feed to produce the same amount of protein as cattle, require little water and space, and produce a negligible amount of greenhouse gases. It is clear then that crickets and other insects form a compelling and sustainable solution to humanity’s ravenous appetite for animal protein. We propose the Cricket Coop project as a practical examination of rearing and interacting with edible crickets.

Residency/Fellowship

Food Justice 2014/2015

Website

artenion.com

Location

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tatu, Estonia