Yikes. I’d never eat worms because they’re worms.
You might get me to eat them if you lied and said they were beef, Ir goat, or turkey, or chicken.
Protein is protein the body doesn’t know the difference it’s all aesthetics and mental. Animal kingdom protein has 9 amino acids in it they are identical across every species of animal from protozoa to humans and every chicken,pig,deer,cow,bison in between. The experiment with the worms was to see how much protein mass could be grown from kitchen/food/garden wastes while also generating prime organic fertiliser. Of course the chickens and pigs gobbled up the worms with gusto.
We wanted to see if they could also be palatable for Western humans since we already new they were edible in other parts of the world. We of course made the first batch for us and adjusted the seasoning and binder to mimic hamburger when cooked on a flat top with added oils since they are so lean. We purged the wigglers for 48 hours so the digestive tracks were empty as you would do crayfish,shrimp or prawns intended to be eaten whole which is how the rest of the world eats shellfish the’m protein in the shells is to valuable to be thrown away. After the student volunteers had been notified of the presence of the alternative protein we gave them slider sized portions and took reviews it was disclosed at the end what the alternative protein was. We had epi pens available but not one person had a medical reaction since wigglers have no shells they lack the “seafood” proteins they are closer to beef or any other hemoglobin rich protein having the same 9 amino acids as beef or pork in twice the density ratio of protein to lipids.p
Scientists have been able to engineer yeasts, ecoli and other bacteria to make all 9 amino acids in the right percentages to make a complete protein profile. So far they have been able to use , sugar obviously as the carbon and energy source. But also methane, ethane , CO, and H2 gasses as energy vectors those are huge advances opening up vast carbon and energy sources directly to protein productions. Using microbialelectrolysis reactors scientists have also taken solar power and or off peak power and turned it into hydrogen in situ on the reactor wall where the SPC mat is living they happily feed on that H+ molecule and turned out complete protein when also feed co2 gas in the water they were living in. Why does this matter you ask? Solar cells are 25% efficient in turning sunlight into electricity, this microbial electro cells turned 90% of the current applied into biomass which 60% of that being complete protein and the rest being carbohydrates or lipids aka food. No land plant on earth exceeds 1% solar insolation to total biomass with only a small portion of that total biomass ending up as a corn kernel or rice seed you see the reason for the science it should be self evident.
Simply put 8 billion people cannot have an American standard of living when it comes to gross caloric intake ,gross protein consumption and gross energy use we would need 4 earth sized planets for the resources for those levels the math is conclusive on that. The obvious solution is get more efficient with the surface area and energy sources solar+nuclear are the only long term we have. Farming the oceans triples the land area where solar energy can be converted to something humans need like food or fuels. Using SPC and nukes or solar farms in the deserts makes massive amounts of complete protein available. 8 billion cannot eat cattle for their protein needs let alone desires there is not enough land,feed and fresh water for that, same for pigs or chickens which compete directly with monogastic food supply hint humans are monogastrics. For every pig you feed you could feed 5 humans directly with the grain and soy proteins. Chickens on a lb for lb basis is two to one or three. If we want to elevate the 4 billion people in abject poverty and protein deficiency humans will have to use alternative proteins and farm the oceans as we get closer to ten billion it will be even more necessary. That’s unless you come up with a way to get humanity down to the one billion or so this planet has the resources for to have a Western European level of energy,calories,protein consumption levels. Math is math it’s not racist but it’s also not normalcy bias either. There is a reason the global south is invading the West and North they see the consumption levels and want their pie piece too but lack the means so they migrate to where the supply is. The better idea is to set up the means to increase access to that pie piece by using other methods. Ocean farming, desert farming, desal via nukes all along the desert coasts. Synthetic proteins into burger paddies,nuggets,strips ect could feed billions.