Dr. Chalecki, Thank you for sharing this teaching experience. Yesterday I came across a story on the mounting food crisis in N Korea. The Kim administration is apparently promoting "alternative food:" grasses, straw, and twigs (the regime has an affinity for using euphemisms, including the famines in the 1990s collectively referred to as "The Arduous March"). Food insecurity is an unfortunate reality around the world, and it is heartening to know that we are encouraging students to engage this problem. Your class activity sounds like an especially memorable experience for your students-- one they are sure to remember and share with others.
Here's a link to the piece I heard on NPR yesterday: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/12/134626054/north-koreas-pleas-for-food-aid-draw-suspicion -- Theresa Jedd, Ph.D. Student Graduate Teaching Assistant: Department of Political Science Graduate Research Assistant: Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship Colorado State University | Campus Delivery 1782 | C330 Clark Building | (970) 491-6083 Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 USA twitter.com/tjedd On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 8:21 AM, Elizabeth Chalecki < [email protected]> wrote: > Gep-eders: > > No request for information or book to promote (yet), but I thought I would > share an anecdote from one of my classes. We are discussing the global food > crisis in my senior environmental studies capstone class here at Boston > College, and in yesterday's lecture we were discussing ways that nations can > address food security. We got through GMOs, fisheries/aquaculture, and food > sovereignty, and turned to "alternate" sources of food. > > Marcel Dicke, from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, makes a good > case that, with global population and affluence on the rise, the planet's > resources cannot support that much more meat production, so insects could > and should be a viable source of animal protein. He published a similar > article in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that included a recipe > for Crispy Crickets, so I bought some at a local Petsmart, fixed them up > according to the recipe, and brought them to class. > > At the end of the lecture, after we watched the video promoting insects as > food, I turned to the students and said, "Now we're going to try some" and > pulled out these crickets. (To be fair, I told them that I was not > expecting the students to do anything the faculty was not willing to do, so > my co-professor and I both ate one in front of the whole class. > "Nutty-tasting" is indeed the word.) I was expecting a lot of "ewww" and > "I'm not eating that," but they fell on these crickets like they hadn't > eaten dinner in a week! Everyone ate one, some even came back for seconds. > This is why I love teaching! > > Here is the link to the TED talk, and to the Wall Street Journal article: > http://www.ted.com/talks/marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects.html > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703293204576106072340020728.html?KEYWORDS=%22six-legged+meat%22 > > Will college students really eat anything? Apparently. > > -Beth > -- > Elizabeth L. Chalecki, PhD > Visiting Asst Professor > International Studies Program, Environmental Studies Program > Boston College > 140 Commonwealth Ave., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 > chalecki [at] bc.edu > elizabeth.chalecki [at] gmail.com > www.linkedin.com/in/chalecki >
