Could cricket flour be the future?

By the year 2050, this planet will be packed with 9 billion people, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts. The FAO is growing concerned with how we’re going to feed those people and has commissioned a lot of studies on eating insects.

Before you let the “ick factor” take over, know this: 2 billion people worldwide already eat insects as their main source of protein. There are 1,900 species of edible insects, and the list is growing. It’s best with something palatable, something that gets over the ick factor.

Meet cricket flour.

When you first walk into a certain kitchen commissary in Salt Lake City, nothing appears out of the ordinary. At first glance, you find the shelves are lined with normal ingredients. Then you find some not-so-normal things.

“We make flour out of crickets!” exclaimed Pat Crowley of a substance that looks like brown sugar.

“Crickets have twice the protein as beef,” said Crowley, owner of Chapul Energy Bars. “So eat half the weight you would have to eat of beef to get the same protein content. Three ounces of cricket flour equals a 6-ounce steak in protein.”

Crowley’s new company, Chapul, is based on the Aztec word for “cricket” or “grasshopper. ” The Aztecs would dry them in the sun like Crowley dries them in a convection oven. Then they would grind them into flour to make bread.

“It’s higher protein than whey protein or soy protein, and it’s more easily digestible,” said Crowley.

The main reason for considering a switch to cricket flour is the future. The world has to find an efficient, environmentally friendly way to feed 9 billion people.

“The best thing about them from an ag perspective is they grow so rapidly – from hatching to market ready in about five weeks,” said Crowley. “Compare that to the expense and time of getting a cow to market.”

Crowley is right on the cusp of mass marketing cricket flour to cook with, like in bread. He is also marketing a high energy bar made with cricket flour that can already be found at Nature’s Grocer in Idaho Falls.

“Everyone should be eating it,” said Crowley.

Mark Cuban from “Shark Tank” is already on board.

The trick is getting over the ick factor.

“Some people make a funny looking face,” said Crowley. “If you get over that and look at it logically, nutritionally, scientifically, environmentally, it just makes sense in this world.”