" Our society subsist entirely for the purpose of making this normal . To make the melodic theme of eating insects not be weird , " Gabi Lewis says ofExo , the cricket - based protein ginmill company he co - founded with his college roommate , Greg Sewitz . " So today we have to disguise it and turn it into a protein bar , veil it pretty . If we ’re successful then in ten years we ’ll see people eating whole cricket . "
An admirable goal , but one that prompts the question : Why eat on worm in the first place ?
THE CASE FOR CRICKETS
" People , the first time they take heed about this , have the most intense visceral disgust reflex . It ’s just , like , inst , " Lewis says . But despite what your initial reaction might be , eating insects is n’t all that weird — people all over the world , in many different commonwealth , count insect as a part of their diet . Ultimately , it all depends on your perspective . " [ Drinking ] milk is so uncanny if you call up about it , " Lewis says .
Then there ’s the fact that cricket are great for you . These chirping insect , which are more often link with encampment than culinary excellence , are a regular superfood . They have more iron than beef and more calcium than milk . They ’re low in saturated fat and sugar . And they ’re a complete protein , stand for they take all nine essential amino group acids .
eat on them is environmentally responsible , too . cricket require less food , less weewee , and less blank space to grow than most other material body of protein . They procreate expeditiously , reach maturity promptly , and bring forth 80 prison term less methane gun than oxen . All of this is good news in combating mood change and stand increase universe . ( If you ’re concerned in pick up more about the welfare of eating bugs , chink outthis reportthat the United Nations published on the subject last year . )
TURNING CRICKETS INTO PROTEIN BARS
Despite all those facts , Lewis did n’t immediately take to the idea of crickets as food . As a senior at Brown University with a chore pass at a large hedge monetary fund line up he was , in his own words , " coast . " Skipping course rapidly get boring , so the fitness and alimentation buff began experiment with making his own protein bar . It was Sewitz who suggested crickets . He let the thought from a conference on climate variety at MIT and thought they might present a solution to his roommate ’s pursuance for the complete protein .
After a little convincing and a lot of research , Lewis was sell — so the twain ordered 2000 live crickets from one of the XII or so domestic farms that raise crickets for fishing bait and reptile intellectual nourishment . The insects get in at their on - campus theatre in something resemble shoeboxes . And although they lost a few especially jumpy cricket in the appendage , Lewis and Seitz successfully block , cleaned , roasted , and ground the crickets into a powder . With it , they made their first batch of cricket protein bars .
After incur positive feedback from fellow educatee and athletes at a local crossfit gym , the pair decided to wait into what their next pace should be . " I set forth talking to a prof of entrepreneurship about it , drew up a business programme , got more serious , raise a little bit of money from family and protagonist , " Lewis says . And when they graduated in May 2013 , they agreed to dedicate their summer to giving the fellowship a genuine nip — start with a Kickstarter campaign . They gave their campaign a $ 20,000 goal . When it raised close to $ 55,000 in the allotted time , Lewis decided not to connect the hedge fund , Seitz scrapped his design of learn neuroscience to Tibetan monastic , and the two dedicated themselves to Exo .
It was n’t immediately unruffled navigation . The Kickstarter campaign ended in August and they bring forth their first commercial good deal of 50,000 bars in March . Finding a manufacturer prove particularly dodgy because there ’s a small overlap between mollusc allergic reaction and cricket allergies , and company were unwilling to foul their equipment in that way . " We were using crickets and they expend their whole life-time trying to keep crickets out of their facilities , " Lewis say .
Eventually , Louis and Seitz secured a maker in upstate New York , partner with some commercial cricket farms to set up separate all - constitutional facilities for the human - consumption crickets — although Lewis suppose that ’s more about consumer perceptual experience than necessity — and joined force with a world - grade chef .
Exo Now
After working as Head Chef of R&D at The Fat Duck and Culinary Director at Chipotle , Kyle Connaughton was designing a novel curriculum in intellectual nourishment science for the Culinary Institute of America when a acquaintance of a friend introduced him to Lewis and Seitz . They look to be reach off to one of his students , but Connaughton , who had take part in a BBC infotainment about rust louse , wish the theme so much he joined the squad .
" We know that if this was gon na exploit , these bar had to be delicious — at least as far as protein bars go — and they had to taste substantially than most protein bar in a category that ’s comically overcrowded , " Lewis say .
Connaughton aid them to do just that . Though they currently have just two flavors — cacao en and PB&J ( there was a cashew ginger barroom , which had ardent devotee but was discontinued for not have a widespread enough appeal)—there are architectural plan to develop more ; blueberry vanilla extract and Malus pumila cinnamon bark are already in the works . And so far , people have like what they ’ve tasted : Exo can scarcely keep up with the demand . Every production running has sell out , with around 90 per centum of those sales occur online .
Being a " uncanny " solid food is good for word - of - mouth line of work ( and sensitive attention ) , but normalize eating insects would be even better . Lewis compares his hopes for cricket to the trajectory of lobsters , which were once considered prison intellectual nourishment , and sushi .
" Our attitude towards these things change , " he says . " Granted , lobster took a hundred years . Sushi was insert in the ‘ 60s in LA and now you could discover a sushi prevention in the Glasgow airdrome . And now , with hoi polloi ’s focus on nose - to - tail dining and farm - to - table culinary art and , I do n’t want to sound old , with social medium , these things happens quicker . So it ’s workable that the shift we ’ve take in with lobster that took 100 years and sushi that took 30 with cricket could take five to 10 . "
