The Italian startups that bring insects to the plate: “Raising crickets is convenient for everyone”

“We Italians should consider insects as an opportunity in the food sector: a completely natural alternative food, a sustainable protein source. Not a threat to traditional agriculture, which is also affected by the effects of climate changebut a potential ally that will be impossible to do without”. Carlotta Totaro Row, Salento transplanted in Milan since 2002, a degree in Food Science and Technology, has no doubts. And that is why she has invested the last few years in the creation of ALIA insect farman innovative agricultural startup that aims, in an increasingly near future, to produce foods based on 100% Italian edible crickets, in compliance with maximum safety, quality and innovation. In other words, it guides one of the realities that could take off after the latest authorization by the European Union, last January 3, for the placing on the market of cricket powder (Acheta domesticus the scientific name), partially degreased: the green light has come to a Dutch company, Fair Insects BVand follows similar authorizations for the same insect and, first, for the sale and consumption of dried flour moths, in July 2021, and of the migratory locust, a few months ago.

And what happens in Italy? Something is moving, indeed. Italian Cricket Farma company based in Scalenghe, in the Turin area, and produces cricket flour how pet food (also breeding mealworms, kaimani, locusts and honeyworms) has already submitted a similar application to extend to thehuman nutrition its products. “And we will soon do the same, who have already been engaged in a research and development phase for some time (hosted by the Como Next hub, ed) – explains Totaro Fila – We will not obtain the powder by drying but by atomizing the insect, bringing it to very high temperatures for a few seconds, in order to preserve the nutritional qualities, maintaining a neutral taste and therefore suitable for both sweet and savory food formulations” .

Behind the corner, ALIA insect farm (the name of the startup comes from the crasis of the names of the two children, Andrea and Cecilia, who designed the logo) has a breeding pilot project in store, with the transformation of a former stable on the outskirts of Milan into a next generation farm of crickets, naturally 100% made in Italy. “The environments will have been studied and redesigned to maintain the suitable dimensions of the individual rooms, isolated from each other also in terms of ventilation”, explains the founder. “But the institutions in Italy need to support us”.

The numbers: why it’s worth eating insects

There is still some resistance here to the so-called novel food. Second Coldirettieg, 54% of Italians are completely against the use of insects at the table. “A cultural issue – cuts short Totaro Fila – because the consumer, whose approach to edible insects we are monitoring with a research work by the University of Bergamo, must be educated and often have positions of prejudice, not considering that our civilizations in the past they had already understood that insects were edible and protein-rich, only to then replace them with vertebrate farms that were more convenient at the time and which today we are fatally forced to question due to their impact on the planet”.

That’s right: the reasons to push on the food consumption of insects there would be: alone, they make up 80% of the animal species on our planet, according to the FAO already in 2013 over 2 billion people habitually consumed them in their diet. They are rich in protein, vitamins, football, fibers, iron, zinc And Omega 3.

Moreover: weight for weight crickets provide more than double the protein, five times as much magnesium and three times as much iron as beef. but above all theinsect breeding is decidedly more sustainable: they are able to convert 2 kg of food into 1 kg of body mass, while cattle need as much as 8 kg of food to increase their body mass by 1 kg.

Also consistent reduction of water and soil consumption, and the production of carbon dioxide: a cricket farm, for example, produces 80 times fewer emissions than an equivalent cattle farm. And for a kilo of insect protein you need a quarter of the water needed for a kilo of beef protein.

“And then – adds Carlotta Totaro Fila – even among vegans, in the USA, there is an opening to their consumption, with the creation of a new category, the so-called ento-veganswho appreciate theattention to animal welfare: insects are killed by cold, ‘putting them to sleep’, just as it happens naturally. What is certain is that, based on food safety, taste will decide the choices of consumers”.

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A gourmet journey based on locusts

And there are those who have been committed, for unsuspected times, to combating the alleged idiosyncrasy of Italians to insects at the table. This is for example the case with Julia Maffei And Giulia Tacchinithe founding dynamics of Entonotethe cultural association that since 2015, based in Milan, has been promoting theentomophagy, precisely the diet based on insects. Workshops, aperitifs and tastings, show cooking and, above all, the so-called ento-experiences, sensory journeys with tastings of dishes based on locusts, crickets and mealworms.

“We started in 2015 – they explain – on the eve of the Milan Expo, when we started talking about the subject timidly, at the time most people didn’t even know that insects are edible. Today they come with specific questions and the desire to experiment In ours ento-experience we bring a series of courses in which the insect, freshly prepared and enhancing its flavour, is gradually more visible, thus favoring a gradual, so to speak, less shocking approach. What we do, above all, is to inform people about what they are eating and why, comparing the nutritional values ​​and the environmental cost of a single dish with a traditional dish. To realize together that eating insects can be tasty and convenient”.

Fucibo: insect-flavored crisps and biscuits

Who is already widely active on the Italian food market with insect flours is a startup from Vicenza. Is called Fucibus and produces insect flour-based biscuits, snacks and chips, currently – precisely by virtue of EU regulations – imported from abroad. Pasta and crackers coming soon. The idea came to David Rossia computer engineer with a passion for cooking, and an entrepreneur Lorenzo Pezzato. Animated, both, by the sensitivity for environmental protection, they started in 2016 in London, “when in Italy, due to a questionable interpretation of the legislation, it was not yet possible to market food with insect derivatives. Today we have few doubts : insects will be the new gastronomic trend for the next few years, it is also an ethical and sustainable choice”, they say with conviction.

In any case, to avoid the risk of consumer reluctance, they started from extruded corn chips, cooked in the oven and flavored with pizza and cheese. “A line specifically designed to bring them closer with something extremely recognizable, minimizing the psychological effect induced by tasting insects for the first time”, explains Pezzato.

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In short, the insects are there but you can’t see them. “THE Biscuits they are the new meeting point between tradition and innovation. – he adds – The experience in England allows us to predict a parabola: the initial movement of caution or repulsion will also turn into curiosity in Italy, and the products will become increasingly present on the shelves of our supermarkets”.

Fucibo’s products are made in Italy, but even in this case the last step is missing: “At the moment we buy insect meal in France, but as soon as the EU gives the go-ahead to Italian companies, we won’t hesitate to stock up on our Country, which can be a leader even in the so-called new food. As long as he distrusts – he comments – the narrative of a certain political party which tends to make one believe that locusts will replace grandmother’s gnocchi and not that, rather, insects will constitute, in the near future, an additional sustainable and protein-rich ingredient, to translate into old or new recipes”.