Will European Populations Be Reduced to Eating Insects?

Telegraph
Food riots have occurred in many parts of the third world recently, but Europeans have always felt immune from food concerns -- ever since the introduction of the potato from the Americas, in the 1500s. But recent financial concerns of government debt and demographic decline across the continent, are raising concern in Brussels about future food supplies in Europe.

It is easy to grow tasty insect larvae almost anywhere, on scraps and waste. But these plump, juicy larvae are not only suitable for fish bait. According to the EU food experts, an entire continent of humans can, and perhaps should, be taught to live on insects.

Experts in Brussels believe insects and other creepy crawlies could be a vital source of nutrition which will not only solve food shortages but also help save the environment.

They have launched a three million euro (£2.65 million) project to promote the eating of insects while also asking national watchdogs like the UK's Food Standards Agency to investigate the issue.

...According to one study, small grasshoppers offer 20 per cent protein and just six per cent fat, to lean ground beef's 24 per cent protein and 18 per cent fat.

Crickets are also said to be high in calcium, termites rich in iron, and a helping of giant silkworm moth larvae apparently provides all the daily copper and riboflavin requirements. There are even claims that bees boost the libido.

Insects emit less greenhouse gases than cattle and require less feed, supposedly making them environmentally-friendly. And supporters claim they could help feed [Europe], because they are so abundant they provide at least 200kg of biomass for every human.

The European Commission is offering the money to the research institute with the best proposal for investigating "Insects as novel sources of proteins". _Telegraph

Europe's population is imploding, due to low birthrates. Europe's elites and overseers are looking for ways to cut costs, to meet the increasingly burdensome social obligations of Euro nanny-states, in the face of a shrinking demographic and disappearing taxpayers. One should probably not feel surprised to see grub and larvae soup and salad appearing on the menus of future bistros.

It is not yet clear how the rapidly growing Muslim population of Europe will accept new EU insect food guidelines. But everybody's gotta eat, right?
H/T ImpactLab

Adapted from an earlier article at Al Fin, the Next Level

Prepare A Year's Worth of Bisin Sandwiches in One Weekend!

DailyMail
Yes, it's true! This weekend, you can shop for next year's bisin sandwich ingredients on Saturday, then prepare all of next year's sandwiches on Sunday. And no, bisin is not misspelled. Bisin is a natural chemical preservative that can keep food preserved for years, without refrigeration! Here's more:

No time to make a packed lunch before work? Soon you could make it a year in advance.

Scientists have discovered a natural preservative which could spell the end of rotting food.
They have pinpointed the substance which destroys the bacteria that make meat, fish, eggs and dairy products decompose.

...The preservative, called bisin, could extend the food’s life for several years – and even work for opened bottles of wine and salad dressing.

The discovery is set to revolutionise the way we shop and reduce the 20million tonnes of food waste thrown out in the UK every year.

Bisin occurs naturally in some types of harmless bacteria. It prevents the growth of lethal bacteria including E-coli, salmonella and listeria.

...The substance could extend the life of a variety of everyday foods which have strict use-by dates including seafood, cheese and canned goods.

In some cases these foods could last for years and may not even need to be kept in the fridge, the researchers at the University of Minnesota claim.

The scientists, who have patented the substance, are already in talks with food manufacturers. The first products containing bisin are expected to be on the market within three years. _DailyMail

Even if your child is too young for school, you could make an entire year's lunch sandwiches for her years in advance. Imagine the time you can save through economies of scale!

Bisin may be bad news for refrigerator manufacturers and dumpster divers, but it is great news for moms everywhere. Preppers should also take note.

H/T Impact Lab

Eating Ten Year Old Meat

How to Know Spoiled Meat
If you do not do something to preserve fresh meat, it tends to go bad rather quickly. Early humans discovered that eating fresh kill was healthier than eating days or weeks old flesh. Italians in Naples may be discovering the same thing:

Italian police arrested a Naples butcher after discovering worm-infested meat for sale in his store that was 10 years past its expiry date, the ANSA news agency reported Friday.

Shocked food safety inspectors discovered pasta and biscuits crawling with parasites, rotting meats and dairy products, and olives covered in mold in the store of horrors.

The butcher tampered with expiry dates on the products in order to keep on selling the items, even though some were a decade old, the report said.

Police arrested the butcher on suspicion of endangering public health. _FoxDC

Of course, the worms just add to the protein content. But seriously, how did the butcher preserve meat so well that it could be sold to conscious humans after ten years?


Curing Meat

Thousands of years ago, man figured out that salting and smoking meat could retard spoilage and improve flavor. One old-fashioned and time-tested method is the salt barrel. Packed in a barrel of salt, meat will last almost indefinitely. However, salt is a commodity like anything else: unless you have access to an unlimited supply of it, the salt barrel is a very resource intensive method of food preservation. Meat is often salt cured and smoked, but by itself, that is more for flavor than actual preservation. Ironically, the relatively low temperatures at which meat is smoked actually encourages the growth of one very serious pathogen: Botulism.

...To effectively preserve meat in a survival situation, you need only have two things: Salt and Sodium Nitrate. With these two ingredients, you can produce an unbelievable variety of cured and preserved meats that are ready for long term storage or immediate consumption, and eaten “raw” or cooked.

...To dry-cure the meat:
Wrap it in cheesecloth. This is to discourage insects. Hang it in a humid, cool environment. 70% humidity and 55 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal. Humidity may be increased by placing a container of salted water near the meat. Somewhat paradoxically, higher humidity actually yields better results. It may slow the curing process a bit, but in the absence of sufficient humidity, the outer surface of the meat will dry and lock moisture in, causing spoilage. A cellar or even an uninhabited cave is an ideal curing chamber. An unused refrigerator will work as well.

Depending on climate conditions, size, and type of meat, this can take anywhere from a week to several months. A ham should be cured for six months; a pork belly or duck breast only needs a week. It is ready when it has reduced its weight by a third, or just feels “cooked.” You may cook the meat after it is cured, or eat it as is. You can store it by leaving it to hang in the curing environment. It should last almost indefinitely, and add flavor and variety to your diet. _SurvivalBlog

So, according to the author of the piece above, dry cured meat "should last almost indefinitely." That is reassuring, should the power ever go down for 10 or 20 years.

Apparently butchers cannot get away with selling 20 year old meat, but if you are willing to practise the art of dry-curing until you become an expert at the craft, you may be able to put in a good supply of long-term meat, without depending upon a deep freeze to keep the meat edible.

Just something to consider as the moocher in chief doubles down on his lifetime revolutionary goals.

More: Drug-resistant bacteria are commonly found in supermarket meat and poultry. Is food irradiation the answer? Perhaps yet one more reason for stocking your survival compound with a small modular nuclear reactor.

Making Your Own Survival Rations 1: Puffed Grain Cakes

Video courtesy of Popular Science
If you buy a machine to make your own puffed-grain cakes, you can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars and more. But you can make a machine to do the job with spare junk around the shop. In these days of tighter budgets, it helps to know smart ways to trim the fat.

The science behind puffing is simple. Heating the moisture inside of a grain creates pressure and builds up steam, which is trapped by the grain’s hull or shell. When that hull suddenly fails, everything inside it expands in a blast, transforming the grains into a crispy, porous mass; the best example of this is popcorn. Some grains can fuse together, making a cake.

... We built a metal shell using a pipe, a rod and a plate to mount the pipe on, forming a bottom to clamp against, like a piston in a cylinder. Using vise grips, we put the shell over a butane burner, clamped it tightly, and then unclamped it to make it puff. At high temperatures, you have 10 to 20 seconds when the grains puff before they start to burn. We puffed millet, wild rice, sorghum, barley, and white and brown rice. We called the results “vise cakes.”

Our equation for the process looks roughly like this: 150 psi (pressure) and 480ºF (heat) x 12 seconds (time) + sudden release back to atmosphere = 1 vise cake.
Last year we built a rig to make mini vise cakes, which worked well, but it took a long time to produce a large quantity. So this time we increased the scale, creating a design that could make the cakes with a 2.5-inch diameter. All told, it cost us only $57. Our design requires at least four hands to operate, though why puff solo when you can puff in a group? Besides, you‘re saving a good million bucks or so off the price of a commercial machine. _PopSci

Al Fin survival nutritionists are working on something far more sophisticated which they are not allowed to talk about right now, but you can get the germ of an idea about the project here. No more about that, for now.

Eat Your Drugs, Billy, So You Can Grow Up Big and Strong

AphrodisiacHerbs
While consuming certain drugs can get you locked up and labeled as a criminal-for-life, the truth is that everyone is constantly consuming drugs of all kinds. In their food, their drink, even the air they breathe. Your body itself is constantly busy synthesising drugs that affect your moods and your motivations. Your life as a drug.

...unripe bananas contain the neurotransmitter serotonin. When you eat an unripe banana, its serotonin is free to act upon the serotonin neurons within your digestive tract.

...potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplants contain solanine and α-chaconine, substances that can enhance the action of acetylcholine, a chemical in your brain that is vital to memory formation. Your mood might be enhanced slightly by eating fava beans because they contain L-DOPA, a precursor to the production of dopamine, the reward chemical in your brain. Whether these food-borne compounds actually affect your brain depends upon how much you consume and your own personal physiology. This might explain why some people find it quite rewarding to eat potatoes or eggplants.

Morphine-like chemicals capable of acting upon the brain are produced in your intestines when you consume milk, eggs, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, pumpkin, and various fish and grains. Dairy products in particular contain a protein known as casein, which enzymes in your intestines can convert into beta-casomorphin. In newborns, that beta-casomorphin can easily pass out of the immature gut and into the developing brain to produce euphoria.

The pleasurable feeling produced by this opiate-like compound in newborn mammals after their first taste of their mother’s milk is believed to encourage the infant to return again and again for nourishment. Thus, being able to experience the euphoria induced by this opiate-like chemical has life and death consequences for the newborn child. _Seed

Many herbs are thought to have aphrodisiac and other drug-like properties:
Aphrodisiac Herbs Part I
Aphrodisiac Herbs Part II

The difference between what society sees as "drugs" and what it sees as "food" is likely to become even more insubstantial, as synthetic biologists begin to modify food plants to produce drugs and drug-like chemicals. Imagine a tomato plant, for instance, which excreted a cocaine-like substance into its fruit. Would the police have to arrest you for eating a BLT?

There are few limits to what jazzed up food plants and animals could produce, if properly modified. That could make the culinary arts and the act of eating far more interesting down the road.