Sustainable food alternative in gastronomy: Edible insects (entomophagy)

Abstract

The increase in the world population, the inefficient use of resources and the constant change in living conditions constitute the problems of our age. Besides all these, the sustainability of food resources is gaining more importance day by day due to problems such as climate changes and insufficient agricultural areas. In the future, especially meeting the protein requirement is foreseen as a fundamental problem. Edible insects are considered as sustainable food sources due to the advantages in their production when compared to traditional protein sources. It is predicted that the way of eating and drinking will change in the coming years due to problems such as population growth, climate change and food crises. A literature review was conducted in this study on gastronomy trends, etymology and historical development of entomophagy, edible insects as a sustainable food alternative, the advantages of edible insects, and insect cultivation and consumption in the world and in Turkey.