People around the world should stop consuming meat and start eating “worm burgers” and other food made from earthworms instead to help fight “climate change,” a group of scientists has claimed.
The stomach-churning assertion, made by researchers in South Korea, also suggests that world hunger would be greatly reduced if the global population starts eating worms.
Dr. Hee Cho of Wonkwang University led a research project, according to The New York Post.
The study concluded that mixing sugar with cooked mealworms, or beetle larvae, produces a substance that resembles and allegedly tastes like meat.
“Recently, eating insects has become of interest because of the increasing cost of animal protein, as well as the associated environmental issues,” Cho said in a press release after his team’s conclusion.
“Insects are a nutritious and healthy food source with high amounts of fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and high-quality protein — which is like that of meat.”
“Mealworm contains beneficial essential amino acids and is high in unsaturated fatty acids,” Cho claimed.
Climate change activists have repeatedly been making the dubious claim that the cost of producing meat from animals is too high and causes damage to the environment.
One commonly-given example promoted by climate alarmists is that beef made from cows produces methane emissions that allegedly harm the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.
However, despite pressure from the far-left and some international organizations, most countries refuse to abandon the long-treasured tradition of eating meat.
Insects are generally not considered viable food in the majority of countries around the world.
As such, Cho said that he is prepared to fight this stigma by proving that worms can be cooked and seasoned to taste like anything else.
Cho’s group claimed that the worms contained “volatile hydrocarbons” which were capable of producing a variety of strong scents after evaporation.
Those initial smells, resembling wet soil, shrimp, and sweet corn, could be changed based on the method of cooking, including steaming them, roasting them, or deep-frying them, the group insists.
“As a result of this study, 10 of the reaction flavors were optimized based on consumer preferences,” said co-author Hyeyoung Park, a graduate student, during his presentation of the findings at the American Chemical Society in Chicago.
The results, which marked the first time beetle larvae had been repurposed as faux beef, will hopefully be used to influence the mass production of worm meat, according to researchers.
