Cornell Students Make Tofu Out of Mealworms

This sounds like a great idea, to be honest. I’m on record on this subject: I would eat insects if they were ground up into some form where they were not readily recognizable as insects. They’re incredibly environmentally friendly, they pack a significant amount of protein (the same amount on a pound-for-pound basis as an egg, with far less cholesterol), there are literally billions upon billions of them — all of these are good things. The human race’s standing would be immeasurably improved if we ate more insects; I don’t dispute that.

This doesn’t change the fact those who get superior about others’ unwillingness to just chow down on a plate of whole roast beetles are still self-righteous jackasses, but I’m in favor of any scenario where the presence of creepy-crawlies is being hidden from my direct view, particularly in a form I like, such as tofu. People who think tofu is “gross” for other than textural reasons (which are totally valid) are dumb, since tofu has no taste of its own — it just tastes like whatever you flavored it with. If the students at Cornell were able to imbue it with the same lack of taste as tofu (allegedly they were: one tester described it as “like a really firm tofu”), I’m entirely on board with this.

Just don’t ever ask me to eat ground-up spiders.

Image via Eskymaks/Shutterstock.