Mealworm Burgers

The Swiss government approved insect meat in May, and Coop started selling mealworm burgers and grasshopper skewers. What got me is how normal it looks—the packaging, the shelf placement, the fact that nobody seemed to think it was particularly newsworthy. Which is fair, because two billion people already eat them regularly. It’s only in Europe that this counts as a future-food experiment.

The nutrition checks out: good fats, iron, zinc, the whole list. Over 2000 edible species exist. In most places where they’re eaten, there’s no pitch. They’re just food, available and tasty. But here, the conversation stays locked on sustainability metrics and protein efficiency. All true things. Doesn’t change the fact that most Europeans find it pretty gross.

I’m curious what actually happens to these burgers. They’ll probably sit in the cooler case for a while, get picked up by a handful of curious people. Maybe the taste is good and they catch on. More likely they get past expiration and the experiment gets quietly discontinued. Either way, someone put these on the shelf. That’s the interesting part.