来源：《彭博商业周刊》
原文见刊日期：2021年12月6日
Diners have increasingly warmed to the idea of burgers made from peas and coconut oil. Big food producers are betting they’ll soon welcome crickets, beetles, and mealworms to the mix as well. “Everyone is looking at the environmental impact of sourcing food, so there’s a lot of growth potential,” says Tunyawat Kasemsuwan, group director of innovation at canned-tuna producer Thai Union, which is diversifying into insect proteins. “Chicken and tuna made from vegetables, cellular culture, or insects—we know the demand for it will grow much more than what we’re seeing today.”
食客们越来越喜欢用豌豆和椰子油做的汉堡。大型食品生产商打赌，他们很快也会欢迎蟋蟀、甲虫和粉虱混合进来。“每个人都在关注食品获取对环境的影响，因此有很大的增长潜力，”罐装金枪鱼生产商泰国联盟创新部门主管Kasemsuwan表示。该公司正在向昆虫蛋白质领域拓展业务。“用蔬菜、细胞培养或昆虫制成的鸡肉和金枪鱼——我们知道，对它们的需求将比我们现在看到的增长更多。”
Bug advocates say the 2,000 or so species of edible creatures have a lower carbon footprint and require less land than livestock and many grains. And various breeds have differing characteristics that fans say make them work as a food source: Mealworms are clean and rich in minerals and vitamins; crickets and grasshoppers are loaded with protein; fruit fly larvae have a mild taste and light color, so they’re easy to hide in foods; black soldier fly larvae will eat virtually any organic waste.
昆虫的支持者说，大约2000种可食用生物的碳足迹更低，比牲畜和许多谷物需要更少的土地。昆虫粉丝们说，不同品种的昆虫有不同的特点，这让它们适合成为食物来源：粉虱干净，富含矿物质和维生素；蟋蟀和蚱蜢富含蛋白质；果蝇幼虫味道温和，颜色浅淡，很容易隐藏在食物中；黑士兵苍蝇幼虫几乎可以吃任何有机废物。
The potential market got a big lift this year when the European Union approved mealworms for human consumption, and EU regulators say they’re examining applications for almost a dozen other species. Barclays predicts annual sales of edible bugs will grow to $8 billion by 2030, from less than $1 billion in 2019—a potential challenge to the $30 billion plant-based faux-meat market. “Pound for pound, insects are more efficient than livestock and need less space to grow than soy,” says Mohammed Ashour, CEO of Aspire Food Group. “And insects are one of the easiest things to make delicious. They take on the flavor of whatever you feed them.”
今年，欧盟批准了粉虱供人类食用，这一潜在的市场得到了很大的振奋。欧盟监管机构表示，他们正在审查近十几个其他昆虫的申请。巴克莱银行预计，到2030年，可食用昆虫的年销售额将从2019年的不到10亿美元增长到80亿美元——这对价值300亿美元的植物人造肉市场构成了潜在挑战。Aspire食品集团首席执行官穆罕默德•阿舒尔表示:“同等重量的昆虫比牲畜更有效率，比大豆需要更少的种植空间。昆虫是最容易做出美味的食物之一。你喂它们什么，它们就产生什么味道。”
More than 2 billion people in developing countries eat insects, but most consumers in wealthier places find the idea, well, icky. That’s spurred dozens of companies worldwide to develop bug-based foods that don’t look, feel, or taste buggy. Thai Union introduced a $30 million venture fund that’s invested in three insect-protein startups. Charoen Pokphand Foods, is researching black soldier flies as food for humans and animals. “Right now, people are making jokes about bugs. Soon, you’ll be eating them in your burger,” says Constant Tedder, founder of FlyFarm.
发展中国家有超过20亿人吃昆虫，但富裕地区的大多数消费者却觉得这个想法很恶心。这促使世界各地数十家公司开发以虫子为基础的食品，这些食品在外观、感觉和味道上都不会像虫子。泰国联盟推出了一支3000万美元的风险基金，投资了三家昆虫蛋白初创公司。正大食品公司正在研究黑兵蝇作为人类和动物的食物。“现在，人们在拿虫子开玩笑。很快，你就可以在汉堡里吃到虫子了，”苍蝇农场的创始人Tedder说。
Much of the research into boosting the appeal of plant-based faux meat will also help insect producers, says Eran Gronich, CEO of Flying Spark, a startup backed by Thai Union. The company is working on seafood alternatives based on fruit fly larvae. One product is a canned-tuna substitute that’s made by combining protein from the larvae with spices, flavoring, and color to mimic the real thing. “We can create different textures, smells, tastes, and colors using the latest food technology,” Gronich says. “You can get people to try it once, but if it doesn’t taste great, they’ll never come back.”
Flying-Spark的首席执行官伊兰•格罗尼奇表示，许多旨在提高植物性人造肉吸引力的研究也将帮助昆虫生产商。Flying-Spark是一家由泰国联盟支持的初创公司。该公司正在研究以果蝇幼虫为基础的海鲜替代品。其中一种产品是罐装金枪鱼替代品，它是将果蝇幼虫的蛋白质与香料、调味料和颜色混合制成的，以模仿真正的金枪鱼。格罗尼奇说：“利用最新的食品技术，我们可以创造出不同的口感、气味、味道和颜色。你可以让人们尝一次，但如果味道不好，他们就再也不会购买了。”