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Hi Reader,

Just a couple of days ago, I ate my very first grasshopper tostada at the outdoor Oaxacan market here in Puerto Penasco, Mexico.

Visually, it was strange to see all these tiny insects sprinkled all over my tostada like they belonged there with the cabbage, onion and avocado.

They tasted fine, though, like crunchy nuts or chips with a little protein, LOL. The tiny legs are what got me, though: when we were done, I wondered if one was stuck in my throat.

I've been wanting to try to eat insects for a long time.

And I'll tell you why:

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Insects are way more sustainable than traditional sources of meat such as chicken, beef, or pork. Here is an interesting statistic from a BBC article:​

Replacing half of the meat eaten worldwide with mealworms and crickets could reduce farmland use by a third, freeing up 1,680 million hectares, equivalent to around 70 times the area of the UK, and reducing global emissions, according to a study by Alexander and other researchers at the University of Edinburgh.

I've been astonished and dismayed by the environmental impact of eating meat products. As the world population increases, so do the number of cows, pigs, and chickens grown and slaughtered just for human food.

As someone who lives in a van and on a sailboat, I've been increasingly aware of the environment and how precious it is.

Humans have caused so much destruction, even in the last 100 years.

Decreasing our environmental impact is just one of the reasons that Tom and I are predominantly vegetarian (along with personal health and animal welfare reasons). We still eat meat on occasion, but it's more like a treat and not a regular part of our diet.

I don't think everyone needs to become a vegetarian, but reducing meat consumption and trying new protein sources such as grasshoppers (or tofu!) could be part of the solution.

What do you think? Would eating less meat be difficult for you?

Until next time,

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