With a forecast of ten billion people in a few decades, food needs will need to be met by alternative means.
Solutions to feed so many people must be innovative: we are already talking about synthetic food produced in a laboratory or with 3D printers. Traditional agriculture and animal husbandry will not be enough to produce food for so many people.
Food production causes environmental impact, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and the release of pesticides and fertilizers with subsequent groundwater pollution, as well as in terms of water consumption and land use. Animal husbandry, for example, has a very problematic environmental impact, even more so if we consider the long term: since it is not sustainable, one of the verifiable paths is to production of synthetic meatwhich is already causing great discontent and opposition in some sectors of society.
Another way is vegetable protein products – for example, soybeans, peas, beans, chickpeas – are certainly healthier and more environmentally friendly than farm-grown meat. Technological advances in the food industry are already making it possible to produce, for example, super-protein pasta based on microalgae: this would be a much more nutritious option than meat, since it contains more protein than beef, fish, eggs and soy in percentage terms. conditions.
Soon the food industry will have to make sustainable decisionswith agricultural and food practices that reduce environmental impact.
Super protein foods
Between sustainable sources of protein and nutrients there is another very true option, which in reality is not the result of technological achievements: we are talking about insects, traditionally consumed by various population groups around the world as an integral part of their diet. This eating habit has roots in Asia, Africa, Australia, and Latin America, but in recent years, interest in eating insects has spread to the West as a sustainable and nutritious solution.
Through his travels and open-mindedness, Angelina Jolie is among the supporters of this direction. Not everyone is as ready as she is to put grasshoppers and crickets on their plate: the biggest problem at the moment is cultural. In Europe, insects are often disgusting and it is still unthinkable to eat them.
Benefits of insects
However, little by little cultural resistance they will relax, especially for those who care about the environment: insect farms have a lower environmental impact than legumes and even more so than livestock farms, both in terms of water, land and feed requirements, and less production of harmful emissions and waste.
At the level of nutrition, insects are rich not only proteinbut also healthy fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals. There are several edible insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, silkworms, grubs and ants; they can be eaten boiled, dried, fried or turn into flour for making protein bars, pasta, snacks, cookies, soups and hamburgers.