As part of Eat:Ith, a series of events and discussions on food culture in Ireland, there will be a screening of “Bugs” at the Fumbally Exchange tonight. “Bugs” takes a closer look at the concept of dining on insects. By drawing on facts that encourage the consumption of insects – from a UN suggestion that eating bugs can combat world hunger, to knife-wielding chefs insisting on the delicious taste – insects seem to hold a lot of solutions to a lot of our problems.
For the past three years, a team from Copenhagen-based Nordic Food Lab, made up of chefs and researchers Josh Evans, Ben Reade and Roberto Flore, has been travelling the world to learn what some of the two billion people who already eat insects have to say. In “Bugs,” film director Andreas Johnsen follows them as they forage, farm, cook and taste insects with communities in Europe, Australia, Mexico, Kenya, Japan and beyond. During their journey they encounter everything from revered termite queens and desert-delicacy honey ants to venemous giant hornets and long-horned grasshoppers trapped using powerful floodlights, that sometimes cause their catchers temporary blindness.
However, with the prospect of increased consumption comes the worry of a kind of fast-food inflicted deterioration in quality. If industrially produced insects become the norm, will they be as delicious and as beneficial as the ones in diverse, resilient ecosystems and cuisines around the world? And who will actually benefit as insects are scaled up?
Described by The New York Times as “an entertaining and eye-opening documentary,” this is sure to satisfy your appetite.
Tickets can be purchased here.
