North American entomophagy

Eating insects is not a common Northern American practice today. However, in the past a variety of insect species was consumed in Northern America (north of Mexico including Greenland). The aim of this literature review is to provide an historical overview of North American entomophagy based upon bo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Insects as Food and Feed
Main Authors: Schrader, J., Oonincx, D.G.A.B., Ferreira, M.P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wageningen Academic Publishers 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3920/jiff2016.0003
https://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/pdf/10.3920/JIFF2016.0003
Description
Summary:Eating insects is not a common Northern American practice today. However, in the past a variety of insect species was consumed in Northern America (north of Mexico including Greenland). The aim of this literature review is to provide an historical overview of North American entomophagy based upon both peer and non-peer reviewed sources on this topic. Regional differences in insect consumption and reasons for being underreported are discussed. We show that North American natives, and in certain cases colonists, collected and consumed a large variety of edible insects. These are categorised per order and where available, information on how these species were collected and processed is provided. Lastly, we mention reasons for the renewed interest in edible insects in North America, and make suggestions for future studies.