At Singapore’s House of Seafood restaurant, the fish-head curry comes with a side of crunchy crickets, the tofu has bugs crawling out of it and the patrons cannot get enough.
The seaside restaurant is the first eatery to put insects on the menu after the Singapore Food Agency this month approved for human consumption 16 species ranging from crickets to grasshoppers, grubs and mealworms after two years of deliberation.
Crickets and other insects have long been enjoyed as street food in Southeast Asia, but not in the wealthy financial hub, where food imports come with strict restrictions for safety and hygiene purposes.
Photo: Reuters
Francis Ng, chief executive of House of Seafood, said customers love it when the dishes play up the insects, like that tofu dish he plated to look like bugs were crawling out of it, and a dish of glutinous rice balls studded with silkworms.
“It looks scarier so customers can film for their Tiktok,” said Ng, adding that his phone has been ringing off the hook with customers eager to book a tasting.
The restaurant has drafted a menu with 30 dishes that feature insects, which they can sell to the general public once their importers are approved by the food authority. For now, Ng is offering free samples.
Photo: Reuters
In 2019, Singapore said that it was aiming to produce 30 percent of its nutritional needs by 2030 instead of the current model where 90 percent of food is imports.
Insects could certainly help it move toward this goal, if people get over “the yuck factor,” said food security expert Paul Teng, an adjunct senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“Most insects are almost all protein,” Teng said, adding that there needs to be local production to make this alternative protein source affordable.
“Getting people to accept insects in their diet is a challenge, but really, it’s a normal food item. Let’s do something about it to prepare the consumer for it,” he said. “Me personally, I have no problem eating insects.”
The UN has deemed bugs a sustainable source of protein to feed a global population estimated to swell to 9.7 billion by 2050, and global food security issues due to extreme weather and conflicts have also increased interest in the high-quality, economical nutrition that bugs provide.
In Singapore, all insects approved for human consumption must be farmed in a controlled environment and not harvested from the wild, and they cannot be fed contaminants such as manure or rotten food, the food agency says.
In tandem, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has been promoting the farming of insects for human consumption and animal feed, and there has been local interest in importing insects, but cost remains a barrier for now.
Ng said that insects make up 10 percent of his costs at the House of Seafood, and they are all imported.
“The price is definitely higher than eggs,” he said.
It is too early to tell if insects are to become a feature of the Singapore diet or whether demand would fizzle out as it has for fake meat products.
For now, some diners say they are happy to develop a taste for bugs.
“If they have a higher source of protein, why not? I’ll add it to my daily meal and daily food intake,” said Bregria Sim, a 23-year-old a logistics executive, adding that she would pay about S$40 (US$30) for the novelty dishes.
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