UN's Hunger RX: Let the World Eat Bugs

The UN has a simple way to address world hunger: We should all eat more insects, it says in a new report. "Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly, and they have high growth and feed conversion rates and a low environmental footprint," the report says, per the BBC. With their high amounts of protein, minerals, and fat, bugs have a lot to offer, especially to children without enough food.

Bugs make effective livestock, the report says. They need just one-twelfth the feed given to cattle to produce an equal amount of protein, and most insects emit much less greenhouse gas than do other livestock. The big problem is a little thing called "consumer disgust," the report notes. Even though 2 billion people already do eat insects, Westerners are reluctant to do so. To solve the problem, chefs should help raise insects' "status" by putting them in recipes and serving them at restaurants, the report suggests. Click for one entomologist who thinks cicadas are "the shrimp of the land." (More insects stories.)