World’s first edible silkworm food shop just opened

Global population growth is causing a food crisis. Traditional meat, such as beef, pork and chicken will maybe not satisfy our stomach in the future. In response to it, the movement is developing “insect food”, “vegetable meat” and “substitute meat” as alternative proteins is becoming active around the world.

While the livestock industry have high environmental impacts, these alternatives are expected to reduce those impacts. Insect feeding, in particular, has been introduced around the world, since it was recommended in the report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2013. Insects are promising because they are rich in protein, high in nutrient value, and require only small amounts of food, water and land for their production.

Now, there is a new kind of edible insect in Japan. It is silkworm food, a Japanese startup Ellie inc has developed. They just opened “Silk Food Labo”, the world’s first edible silkworm food shop in Minami-Aoyama for a limited time only until the end of March.

Silkworms are the insects that provide the raw material for silk fabrics, and the silk industry has a history of about 5,000 years. Japan was the world’s largest exporter of raw silk thread between 1900s and 1960s. 40% of Japanese farmers were sericulturists. Silkworms are one of the major contributors to Japan’s modernization. Silkworms -“kaiko” in Japanese- were familiar to my deceased grandmother, who was born in 1928 and raised in a farmhouse. I remember how she called them “o-kaiko-san” with affection.

Ellie Inc aims to reinvent silkworms into new foods and shine the spotlight on them again. In “Silk Food Labo”, they eventually plan to serve just under 10 menu items, starting with hamburger, soup, snacks and cake. In persistent pursuit of deliciousness, the chef has gone through continuous trial and error, finally creating a rich taste and sweetness that is characteristic of silkworms.

Chef Ando said, “When I used silkworms for the first time, I discovered their rich taste. They had potential to be both leading and complementary ingredients. They are so attractive as food that I believe it will not take long before the world accepts them as a new ingredient.”

Alternative protein developments are gaining attention as a solution to the food crisis and climate change. I hope the edible silkworms can become an alternative protein from Japan to the world.

[Reference] Ellie Inc