昆虫食品引发下一波饮食潮流

Glen Courtright, CEO and founder of EnviroFlight, is going even further with the environmental approach. His company takes some of the estimated 36 million tons of food waste that ends up in landfills each year and feeds it to the larvae of black soldier flies. A protein meal and oil derived from the dehydrated fly larvae are then packaged and shipped to the pet trade–as well as fish and pig farmers who are clamoring for a protein substitute for fishmeal, which comes from already overfished oceans.
在环保之路上，EnviroFlight公司创始人兼CEO格伦o考特赖特走得更远。他的公司每年利用估计3,600 万吨运送至垃圾填满场的食品垃圾，来喂养被他称为黑士兵的苍蝇幼虫。然后，衍生自脱水蝇蛆的蛋白粉和油被打包运送到宠物市场，以及养鱼户和养猪户。这些农民一直吵着要求获得一种能够替代鱼粉的蛋白物质——海洋已经被过度捕捞，难以为继。

EnviroFlight is also partnering with the feed industry around the world to provide its technology and know-how on raising insects for animal feed. Courtright expects to see growth of 50 percent this year, adding that he is struggling to keep up with demand.
此外，EnviroFlight正在与世界各地的饲料行业合作，为后者提供养育昆虫饲料的技术和专业知识支持。考特赖特预计今年的业务量将增长50%，他正在努力跟上不断增长的需求。

“Big business understands there has to be a fish meal replacement, a sustainable fish meal replacement,” said Courtright, who initially explored producing oil from insects, bacteria and then algae for biofuels before shifting to the feed sector. “They are seeing the viability of the product and they are understanding insect technologies are real and they are coming.”
考特赖特声称，“大企业明白，必须找到一种传统鱼粉的替代物，一种具有可持续性的替代物。”在转向饲料行业之前，他起初尝试着从昆虫、细菌和藻类中提炼生物燃料。“他们将发现这种产品是可行的，意识到昆虫技术不是骗局，就会找上门来。”

But will insects catch on as pizza did after World War II or sushi did in the 1970s?
但这些小动物能否像比萨饼在二战后，或寿司在20世纪70年代那样风行一时？

Some experts think the deluge of new insect-related companies could be a turning point in entomophagists’ (that’s those who advocate for insects as food) decades-long battle to get the six and eight-legged critters onto the plates of consumers.
数十年来，食虫学家（即那些主张食用昆虫的人士）一直在竭力推动六条腿和八条腿的小动物进入消费者的餐盘。有专家认为，与昆虫相关的新企业不断涌现，或将成为这种努力的转折点。

“This is more than a blip. This is the beginning of a curve that will go steadily up,” said Montana State University Associate Prof. Florence V. Dunkel, a leading edible insect expert who organizes an annual bug buffet on campus each year featuring delicacies like wax moth larvae quesadillas, curried mealworms and Chinese stir fry made with crickets.
“这种现象不是昙花一现，而会成为一条将稳步上升的曲线的开端，”蒙大拿州立大学(Montana State University )副教授弗洛伦斯o邓克尔说。这位著名的食用昆虫专家每年都在校园组织一场昆虫自助餐，其中的特色佳肴包括蜡蛾幼虫油炸玉米饼、用咖哩粉烹调的黄粉虫和爆炒蟋蟀。

“There was the environment,” she says, ticking off forces that are driving interest in the new food group. “There was the need to have more nutrients. And then there was the openness of the Millennial generation to search out better ways to live,” she added. “It’s a no-brainer to begin to incorporate insects into our diet as a protein source.”
她列举驱动人们对这种全新食物类别产生兴趣的力量，“当时的环境，对更多营养物质的需要，还有就是千禧一代在搜寻更好生活方式时抱有的开放心态，”她补充说。“在这些因素的推动下，人们开始不假思索地把昆虫作为一种蛋白质来源融入我们的饮食。”

But while Dunkel predicts that shoppers in the next few years could find bags of frozen moth larvae next to the frozen shrimp, others, including the FAO, are more cautious. They say consumer products will remain a “niche market” for at least another generation, mostly attracting thrill-seeking Westerners as well as immigrant communities in the West pining for traditional insect favorites like grasshoppers from Mexico or Mopane worms from southern Africa.
不过，虽然邓克尔预测称，在未来几年，冷冻蛾幼虫将与冷冻虾一道出现在消费者的购物袋之中，但其他人，包括联合国粮农组织，都比较谨慎。他们表示，至少对下一代人来说，昆虫消费类产品将依然是一个“缝隙市场”，其主要受众是寻求刺激的西方人，以及西方国家中渴望享受墨西哥蚱蜢或南部非洲可乐豆木蠕虫等传统昆虫美食的移民社区。

The FAO’s Paul Vantomme, who coordinates the agency’s insect program, says he thinks the greatest potential is in the animal feed sector, noting that insects could represent up to 10 percent of the 150 million tons of protein sold each year in two decades. The insects would replace fishmeal and supplement soybean meal, Vantomme said.
负责协调粮农组织昆虫项目的联合国官员保罗o旺托姆表示，他认为最大的潜力将是动物饲料领域。他指出，在未来20年每年售出的大约1,500万吨蛋白质中，昆虫的占比有望达到10%。在他看来，昆虫将取代鱼粉，还将成为大豆粉的补充。

“China imports 30 million tons of soybean meal in order to supply its chicken and pig farms,” Vantomme says. “The average Chinese eats meat once a week, and that is expected to double in the next five years. That means they will be importing 60 million tons. Even China is looking for alternatives for these imports. For them, it’s a big problem.”
“为了满足养鸡场和养猪场的需要，中国每年进口大约3,000万吨大豆粉，”旺托姆说。“中国老百姓通常一周吃一次肉，他们的肉食需求预计将在未来5年翻一番。这意味着，他们将进口6,000万吨。就连中国也开始为这些进口饲料寻找替代品。对他们来说，这是一个大问题。”

EnviroFlight’sCourtright also says he expects the animal feed sector to offer the most potential for investors. “For animal feed, definitely. For human feed, I don’t think the West is ready,” Courtright says. “We’re not that hungry yet. We are not starving and insects are not part of our culture.”
此外，EnviroFlight公司的考特赖特表示，他预计饲料行业将成为最有潜力吸引投资的领域。“对于饲料产业来说，肯定如此。但我不认为西方公众已经做好了食用昆虫的准备，”考特赖特说。“我们还没有饿到那份上。我们目前还没有体会到挨饿的滋味，也不具备吃昆虫的文化传统。”

Some of that trepidation was on display the other day at Fortune when several reporters said they were scared to even try samples of the Chapur coconut, ginger and lime or the peanut butter and chocolate bar. Much of the apprehension came from expecting to bite into a cricket, as famously seen on the TV show Fear Factor, although the bars have no visible cricket parts and lack the woodsy flavor of chirping insects. The taste and consistency are closer to a chocolate or tropical power bar.
前几天，就在《财富》(Fortune) 杂志社，当几位记者绘声绘色地描述他们颤颤巍巍地品尝Chapul椰子、姜汁、酸橙或花生酱和巧克力棒样品的经历时，有好几位编辑都露出了惊恐万分的表情。其中很大一部分忧虑恐怕跟有可能咬到一只蟋蟀有关——就像他们在电视节目《谁敢来挑战》(Fear Factor)中看到的那个著名场景——尽管这些能量棒看不到明显的蟋蟀痕迹，也缺乏这种吱吱叫的昆虫身上特有的那股木香味。这些食物的口味和一致性更接近于巧克力或热带棒状食品。

A few blocks away, the bars were on sale at midtown Manhattan’s Westerly Natural Market natural foods store. Positioned alongside a protein bar featuring Chia seeds and another one claiming to save lives with each sale, staffers said the Chapul cricket bars were selling mostly to “hard-core” customers trying to tap into the latest health food trends. Sales have been slow due to limited marketing and the foreign concept of edible insects, they said.
几个街区之外，在曼哈顿中城的西风自然市场 (Westerly Natural Market)，有不少天然食品商店正在销售这些棒状食品。其中有一款蛋白质棒包含野鼠尾草籽，和另一种据称每销售一笔就能拯救许多生命的草籽。站在一旁的销售人员表示，Chapul蟋蟀棒主要卖给了那些尝试着迎合最新保健食品趋势的“死忠”顾客。由于市场营销活动有限，再加上公众对食用昆虫的概念还非常陌生，这些产品的销售一直非常迟缓，他们说。

For his part, Chapul’s Crowley has grown accustomed to the naysayers and acknowledges he still has work to do to help consumers overcome their fears of eating products like his with insects. But he believes his company has plenty of room to grow, predicting that it could see $1 million in revenue in 2015 and more than $10 million in five years.
不过，对于各种反调，克劳利早已习以为常，并且承认在帮助消费者克服对昆虫食品的恐惧方面，他依然需要做大量工作。但克劳利相信他的公司有足够大的成长空间，他预计公司营收将在2015年达到100万美元，并且将在五年内突破1,000 万美元大关。

“I have no doubt that the industry will continue to grow,” Crowley says, noting that he expects Chapul to be in 10,000 stores in five years. “We need to diversify our food system,” he says. “We are not trying to eliminate food sources. We are just trying to add insects to the menu of the American diet.”
克劳利说，“这个行业将继续增长，我对此坚信不疑。”他预计Chapul将在五年内进入1万家商店。“我们需要丰富我们的食品系统，”他说。“我们不是在尝试着消除食物来源。我们仅仅是想把昆虫添加到人们的饮食菜单之中。”