Karino AyakoEthical food is gaining more attention, but how about chocolates made from crickets? Sounds weird, right? It may be the case now, but with rising interest in alternative food with less environmental load, the chances are that they will become the future generation of chocolates.
Cricket Chocolate Crunch is one of the contenders, created by FUTURENAUT. It is a startup of Takasaki City University of Economics in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture. The chocolate was released earlier last month.
The startup has been focusing on insects as an ingredient for alternative food. They believe that insect food is a solution to the world’s food shortage problem. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also recommends insects as alternative food because it has multiple advantages. It can be stored for long periods of time, and it requires less water and feed compared to animal meat.
Furthermore, crickets contain high protein, so it has the potential of becoming the next-generation source for protein. FUTURENAUT realized this possibility and sought ways to make them into chocolate. They succeeded in maintaining nutrition by converting protein derived from milk to protein derived from insects.
In addition to crickets, Cricket Chocolate Crunch uses soybean too. A box with 2 bars contains 10g of protein, so people can take in protein efficiently, suitable for people who want to build their bodies. Moreover, it has low sugar, reduced to 8g a box, perfect for chocolate lovers who want to avoid overconsuming sugar. Finally, it is environmentally friendly as it uses protein with a negligible impact on the global environment.
The chocolate is available at stores and online at 600 yen including tax. The new ethical chocolate is both good for your health and the environment. What better can you ask for? To achieve SDGs, we can no longer continue relying on only animal protein. We need to slowly switch to new protein ingredients that have less impact on the environment. Try these sustainable chocolate crunches to make the world a better place for everybody on this planet.
