A reel from i3L University in Jakarta, Indonesia, shows people asking a question they didn't expect to ask on a Tuesday: Would you eat ice cream made from crickets? The video, shared on Instagram by Andrea Zefany, a student, shows brown cricket powder being worked into a chocolate ice cream base. It is labelled a Food Technology student project, and the caption says the student turned crickets into ice cream for her thesis. 

How The Crickets Are Prepared

In the video, Andrea walks viewers through the process before the insects go anywhere near the dessert. The crickets are first blanched, then dried in an oven for around three to five hours. After that, they are kept in an incubator overnight so they dry out completely. The result is the fine brown cricket powder seen in the clip, which goes into the chocolate ice cream base.

It Is A Thesis, Not A Stunt

The experiment is part of her thesis project, which looks at an unconventional way of bringing insects into everyday food. Her thesis in the university's repository studies cricket powder-fortified chocolate ice cream, including its physical properties and nutritional ones. Crickets are known as a source of protein, which is why they keep showing up in food innovation. In other words, this is food science, not a shock-value dessert.

Not The First Cricket Scoop

In 2023, a café in Rottenburg am Neckar, Germany, served cricket-flavoured scoops topped with dried crickets, made with cricket flour, cream, vanilla and honey. This was possible after EU rules allowed insects in food. Customers were split, and one of the customers even said that the cricket was still easy to taste. 

A Cape Town company, Gourmet Grubb, made dairy-free ice cream from black soldier fly larvae milk in flavours like dark chocolate and chai latte. A 2015 study by ResearchGate even tested gelatin from two edible Sudanese insects as an ice cream stabiliser.

Odisha Has Been Eating Ants For Generations

Closer to home, kai chutney, made from red weaver ants by tribal communities in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district, received a GI tag on January 2, 2024. The ants are collected from leaf nests, cleaned and ground, and live ants sell for around Rs 400 to Rs 600 a kilo. The ants are a source of protein, calcium, zinc, iron and vitamin B12.

Why Scientists Keep Coming Back To Insects

A 2013 FAO report found that around 2 billion people already eat insects, and more than 1,900 species are consumed worldwide. This means eating insects is not new, many cultures do it daily. They are also rich in protein and good for the environment. So, it is a common and sustainable food choice for many people.

So the real question may not be whether crickets belong in ice cream. It may be why the idea feels strange to some and ordinary to others.

(Image Credits: Instagram)
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