Entomophagy in humans or human entomophagy describes the consumption of insects (entomophagy) by humans in a cultural and biological context. The scientific term used in anthropology, cultural studies, biology and medicine is anthropo-entomophagy.Rawal Deepak, Sharma Gayatri, Rajpurohit Radhika (2022): Practices and Scopes of Anthropo-entomophagy. In: International Journal of Entomology Research. Volume 7, Issue 2, pp. 48–53. Online: (PDF).Aydoğan, Z. (2021): Anthropo-entomophagy. quantitatively chemical assessment of some edible arthropods, bought from an e-shop. In: Environmental Science and Pollution Research. Vol. 28, 15462–15470. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11768-y Anthropo-entomophagy does not include the eating of arthropods other than insects such as arachnids and myriapods, which is defined as arachnophagy.
Entomophagy is scientifically documented as widespread among non-human primates and common among many human communities. The eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of certain insects have been eaten by humans from prehistoric times to the present day. Around 3,000 ethnic groups practice entomophagy. Human insect-eating is common to cultures in most parts of the world, including Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Eighty percent of the world's nations eat insects of 1,000 to 2,000 species. FAO has registered some 1,900 edible insect species and estimates that there were, in 2005, around two billion insect consumers worldwide. FAO suggests eating insects as a possible solution to environmental degradation caused by livestock production.
In some societies, primarily western nations, entomophagy is uncommon or taboo. While insect eating is uncommon in North America and Europe, insects remain a popular food elsewhere, and some companies are trying to introduce insects as food into Western diets.
Insects eaten around the world include crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, ants, various beetle grubs (such as mealworms, the larvae of the darkling beetle),Global Steak – Demain nos enfants mangeront des criquets (2010 French documentary) and various species of caterpillar (such as bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms and waxworms).
Entomophagy, the practice of consuming insects, is frequently proposed as a sustainable alternative to traditional livestock farming. However, recent studies suggest that the widespread adoption of entomophagy in Western countries faces significant challenges, including cultural resistance and economic barriers.
History Precursors of humans and insect consumption
Evidence suggests that evolutionary precursors of Homo sapiens were entomophagous and arachnophagous. Insectivory also features to various degrees amongst extant primates, such as marmosets and tamarins, and some researchers suggest that the earliest primates were nocturnal, arboreal insectivores. Similarly, most extant apes are insectivorous to some degree.
The archaeological record, in the form of bone tools with wear marks, shows that early hominids such as Paranthropus robustus would gather termites for consumption. Lesnik also reviews multiple studies concluding that wear marks running along the length of the bone are indicative of tools used for digging up termite mounds. These markings are different than those on tools that might have been used to dig up plants and roots, which would have wear marks in multiple directions from digging at a horizontal angle and possibly hitting rocks which are not present in termite hills. Similarly a review of isotope studies show that P. robustus was not eating large amounts of plants and fruits as a source of protein, but it was instead being fulfilled by other means such as animal or insect protein.
Modern human's larger brain size is often attributed to the theory that it was made possible due to an increase in the consumption of meat. The remains of KNM-ER 1808, a specimen of Homo erectus dated to around 1.8 million years ago, has often been used as evidence for the hunter model due to its abnormal bone growths pointing to hypervitaminosis A from consuming excess animal liver. However, Mark Skinner has proposed that consuming bee larvae and pupae could also provide enough vitamin A to cause hypervitaminosis A. Due to insects nutritional value and abundance, they would also be able to provide the necessary amount of protein required for hominin such as H. erectus.
Research in 2026 used analysis of dental calculuses of ancient Europeans to determine the prevalence of entomophagy in Neanderthals and anatomically modern Homo sapiens. This research showed that Neanderthals from multiple regions participated frequently in entomophagy, at similar levels to what is seen in Western Chimpanzees. They showed a notable preference for the order Diptera. Modern humans on the other hand demonstrated much less evidence for entomophagy.
Coprolites and cave paintings Before humans had tools to hunt or farm, insects may have represented an important part of their diet. Evidence has been found analyzing coprolites from caves in the US and Mexico. Coprolites in caves in the Ozark Mountains were found to contain insects (ants, beetle larvae, lice), as well as arachnids (ticks, mites).
Cave paintings in Altamira, north Spain, which have been dated from about 30,000 to 9,000 BC, depict the collection of edible insects and wild bee nests, suggesting a possibly entomophagous society. Cocoons of wild silkworms (Triuncina religiosae) were found in ruins in Shanxi Province of China, from 2,000 to 2,500 years BC. The cocoons were discovered with large holes in them, suggesting the pupae were eaten. Many ancient entomophagy practices have changed little over time compared with other agricultural practices, leading to the development of modern traditional entomophagy.
Insect consumption in human cultures
Many cultures embrace the eating of insects. Edible insects have long been used by ethnic groups in Asia,Oudhia, P. "Traditional medicinal knowledge about green leafhopper, Nephotettix spp., in Chhattisgarh (India)." International Rice Research Notes 25.3 (2000).Oudhia, P. "Traditional medicinal knowledge about pod borer Helicoverpa armigera in Chhattisgarh, India." International Chickpea and Pigeonpea Newsletter 8 (2001): 14–15.Oudhia, P. "Traditional medicinal knowledge about red ant Oecophylla smaragdina (Fab.)[Hymenoptera; Formicidae] in Chhattisgarh, India." Insect Environment 8.3 (2002): 114–115.Oudhia P. (2000). Common housefly Musca nebulo Wiedemann (Diptera: Muscidae) as medicinal insect in Chhattisgarh. Insect Environment.6(1):36–37. Africa, Mexico and South America as cheap and sustainable sources of protein. Up to 2,086 species are eaten by 3,071 ethnic groups in 130 countries. The species include 235 butterflies and moths, 344 beetles, 313 ants, bees and wasps, 239 grasshoppers, crickets and cockroaches, 39 termites, and 20 dragonflies, as well as cicadas. Insects are known to be eaten in 80 percent of the world's nations.
The leafcutter ant Atta laevigata is traditionally eaten in some regions of Colombia and northeast Brazil. In southern Africa, the widespread moth Gonimbrasia belina'''s large caterpillar, the mopani or mopane worm, is a source of food protein. In Australia, the witchetty grub is eaten by the indigenous population. The grubs of Hypoderma tarandi, a reindeer parasite, were part of the traditional diet of the Nunamiut people.Eric Loker, Bruce Hofkin, et al. Parasitology: A Conceptual Approach. p. 229 Udonga montana is a pentatomid bug that has periodic population outbreaks and is eaten in northeastern India.
Traditionally several ethnic groups in Indonesia are known to consume insects—especially grasshoppers, crickets, termites, the larvae of the sago palm weevil, and bees. In Java and Kalimantan, grasshoppers and crickets are usually lightly battered and deep fried in palm oil as a crispy kripik or rempeyek snack. In Banyuwangi, East Java, there is a specialty botok called botok tawon (honeybee botok), which is beehives that contains bee larvae, being seasoned in spices and shredded coconut, wrapped inside a banana leaf package and steamed. Dayak tribes of Kalimantan, also Moluccans and Papuan tribes in Eastern Indonesia, are known to consume ulat sagu (lit. 'sagoo caterpillar') or larvae of sago palm weevil. These protein-rich larvae are considered as a delicacy in Papua, eaten both roasted or uncooked.
In Thailand, certain insects are also consumed, especially in northern provinces. Traditional markets in Thailand often have stalls selling deep-fried grasshoppers, cricket (ching rit), bee larvae, silkworm (non mai), ant eggs (khai mot) and termites.
The use of insects as an ingredient in traditional foodstuffs in places such as Hidalgo in Mexico has been on a large enough scale to cause their populations to decline. In the state of Oaxaca, the use of chapulines (toasted grasshoppers) dates to prehistoric times and today is part of a vibrant economy.
In East Africa, Kunga cake is a food made of densely compressed flies.
In Western culture As early as around 700 BC. In 400 BC an Assyrian depiction depicted a feast with locusts as a delicacy. Both the Bible and the Quran contain references to eating locusts.
Even in ancient times, the Greeks and Romans ate insects and especially their larvae, such as those of bees and cicadas. Pliny's cossus dwelling in oak, probably a wood borer caterpillar, was considered a delicacy by the Greeks and Romans. The great capricorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo syn.C. heros) is considered a strong candidate for identification of cossus by some authorities, and while the stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) grub has also been considered a viable contender, French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre favored identification with the capricorn beetle's cousin called ergat (Ergates faber), which he taste-tested himself, noting its almond-like flavor.
In the study concerning the locust and wild honey diet of John the Baptist, it is mentioned that Greco-Roman writers attest to locust-eating, And for the ancient Israelites, Leviticus 11 prescribes allowing the consumption of four types of "locusts", but besides the arbeh () being locust, the ancient insect names in Hebrew were no longer current by the medieval period, requiring an exegesis using current vernacular names,Ḥullin 65a–b, quoted by and Maimonides (Rambam) identified eight "species" of insects, including grasshoppers and crickets.Maimonides,Holiness 5.2, quoted by But with the grasshoppers, honey and shellac scale insects as exception, insects are overall non-kosher. It may be worth noting John the Baptist's "wild honey" is explained as tasting like manna, made into cakes, in the Gospel of the Ebionites. Furthermore, manna is hypothesized as being the honeydew of scale insects drawing the sap of tamarisks. A confection derived from aphids feeding on oak, gathered in Kurdistan, is still sold as man in Iraq. There is also the gaz or Persian manna from collected saps of Astragalus adscendens, but in older attestations, the types of high quality described as ges alefi or ges chonsari may have in fact been tamarisk manna or oak manna.
Although insect products such as honey and carmine are common, eating insects has not been adopted as a widespread practice in the West. There are some exceptions in traditional food. Casu marzu, for example, also called casu modde, casu cundhídu, or in Italian formaggio marcio, is a cheese made in Sardinia notable for being riddled with live insect larvae. Casu marzu means 'rotten cheese' in Sardinian language and is known colloquially as "maggot cheese".