Andrew Clark – Staff Writer

Have you ever wondered why people eat insects or have insect diets? Does that sound disgusting? Are you intrigued? Do you want to eat a cricket? This past Wednesday, April 12,  the Nobel Conference committee hosted a showing of the new documentary The Gateway Bug  about just that.

The documentary is an introduction to many different topics including the benefits of eating bugs and talking about how to change dieting culture in the United States.  “The premise of the documentary is to bring light to America’s broken diet culture, and addresses the general public’s ‘ick factor’ when thinking about consuming insects,” Sophomore Biology major Abby McCready said.

This documentary was recommended by Julie Lesnik, a speaker at this fall’s 59th annual Nobel conference. Lesnik spoke about different perspectives on eating bugs and the ways that it can be integrated into American dieting culture. She also discussed the potential environmental benefits of bug diets and how it can affect the climate crisis. Additionally, those who attended were invited to try cricket cookies. Lesnik is the Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology at Wayne State University. She has done extensive research into Ecology, nutrition, foraged food, human-animal relationships, and edible insects. Lesnik’s book, entitled Edible Insects and Human Evolution, is described as “[a combination of] primatology, sociocultural anthropology, reproductive physiology, and paleoanthropology to examine the role of insects in the diets of hunter-gatherers and our nonhuman primate cousins.” 

Lesnik teaches a variety of classes, including Physical and Biological Anthropology, food and culture, and biology and culture. The Gateway Bug also focuses on the effects of bugs on the global climate crisis and how adding bugs to our diets could potentially impact the environment. “Currently, over 2 billion people on Earth rely on eating insects for protein. Following daily habits that can help fix a food system that has been damaged by climate change… Over 2 billion people on earth eat insects for protein. Following the rise and dramatic fall of edible insect start-ups, this documentary explores America’s disconnect with food, as climate catastrophe looms. Sharing daily eating habits we can all adopt, to fix the broken food system, one meal at a time,” thegatewaybug.com says.

[The film is] an informative journey following the dramatic rise and fall of edible insect start-ups in America. This award winning documentary explores cultural taboos in diet to uncover clues to fix our broken food system in the West. From nutrition and diet, to tackling food security in climate catastrophe, from the front line of commercial cricket farms in the rust belt, to bug eating festivals keeping Austin weird. Witness the inauguration of the first American Edible Insect Coalition in America, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill watch the water crisis in Flint threatening industrial ag[e] and the feeding of America,” the official summary on IMDB says.

This event was one of many in the spring event series focused on bringing light to topics that will be discussed at this year’s Nobel Conference, entitled “Insects: Little Body, Big Impact.” The conference is scheduled to start at 8:30 am on October 4th. If you have any questions about the documentary screening event, please contact Abby McCready via email.