Next Millennium Farms, an avant-garde organic Canadian farm that provides protein alternatives in the form of insect proteins, have launched a revolution; in the form of cricket flour and insect protein.
Calling themselves a "family-oriented, fun, cricket-flour loving, functional and tasty group", the team promises that their "protein revolution" will provide sound methods of food production in the form of unconventional farming methods.
Next Millennium Farms is the brainchild of the Goldin brothers, Darren Goldin- an Environmental Studies graduate from the York University in Toronto, who is passionate about saving forests and sustainable living, and protested the clear cutting of old growth forest in British Columbia, Ryan Goldin -an Environmental Studies and Education graduate, also from the York University and is all about turning "no, we can't" into "yes, we can!" and Jarrod Golding, a chiropractor and chiropractic educator who believes that one should not just be aware about the food we consume, but also the impact the farming of these food has on the environment.
The family-run farm, which promises to provide a viable, altruistic response to the crises that will imminently be upon the entire world, raises the question as to how humanity will survive when the world population crosses the expected nine billion by 2050.
They guarantee that the products from Next Millennium farms would become the additional protein, iron, amino acids and fats that farmers need for their livestock to flourish, while feeding nutritious and cost effective food to the poor, malnourished, and food insecure.
Sian Griffiths of the BBC, after a visit to the Next Millennium Farms, had spoken about the impact that eating insects can have on global food security as well as the nutritional and environmental benefits of eating insects and pointed out that two billion people on this planet already consume insects as their main source of protein; from Asia to Africa, to South America.
A report published by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations titled, "Edible insects Future prospects for food and feed security" said that an increase in insect eating could reduce world hunger and fight pollution. Insects are high in protein, good fats, amino acids, calcium and vitamin B.
By incorporating healthy insect protein in delicious delicacies, the team of environment-conscious farmers intend to reduce carbon footprint. In fact, they even share recipes for every item from lasagne to cheesecake that can be made with insect protein in the "creative culinary" section of their website.
The Goldins also raise mealworms at a separate facility, but they aren't quite as 'popular' as crickets, and make up just 10% of their business, the Daily Mail noted. They currently ship 8000lbs worth of crickets a month – roasted and ground down into a fine flour or powder – to most of the US companies to use in energy bars, baked goods and snacks. Their influence is beginning to be felt – from coast to coast.
Next Millennium Farms also caters for every event from Bar Mitzvas to Weddings, and while every dish from appetisers to desserts are crafted around insect proteins, one can expect anything from chocolate Covered Crickets, and Waxworm LettuceWraps to be the talk of the party.
The farm's efforts in sustaining the environment for the future have been met with many positive feedbacks:
"This team is truly leading the protein revolution - world-class awareness,education, resources, and products." Marie Battaglia Norton posted on FaceBook.
Reddit user thro-karma posted about crickets being a tasty delicacy: "Crickets are tasty like chips when you fry them up. There are a common snack in parts of West Africa."
"I've always kind of wanted to eat crickets and @ArielleDRoss says they taste like crispy bacon so that's all I need," Lily Hay Newman posted on Twitter.
While many spoke of the taste of crickets, one user, alexanderthegeek got curious about the rate of this new "protein food": "I'm curious as to why it's so expensive. I would be super interesting to use it as a protein powder, but it's QUITE expensive (comes out to $2.50/oz, or $.13/gram protein; vs protein powder's $.72/oz or $.03/gram protein). I'm assuming it's a young process, and they're probably only in the beginning of getting the processing right/cost-optimized."
Be that as it may, crickets are making their way to kitchens all over the world in the form of tasty cricket bruschetta, sunrise smoothie made with cricket flour, cricket flour doritos and so much more.
