2050年世界人口將突破90億？如何養活這么多人？移居火星？轉基因食品？一些專家提出了解決食物短缺難題的辦法：吃蟲子。考慮到世界上有這么多蟲子，而且蟲子的繁殖力又這么強，這倒不失為一個好點子——只要你能吃得下去。為了支持昆蟲食品，一位天才設計師還發明了一整套食蟲餐具，一起來看看。

If the thought of eating a witchetty grub or a scorpion makes your skin crawl then you might need to get used to the thought pretty sharpish, at least according to some experts.
如果你一想到吃木蠹蛾幼蟲和蝎子就頭皮發麻，你也許要抓緊時間讓自己適應了，至少某些專家是這么想的。

By 2050, the population of the world is expected to hit 9 billion people. And that’s a lot of mouths to feed. Experts believe we will have to turn more and more to entomophagy, or using insects as food, in order to sustain humanity.
到2050年世界人口預計將突破90億，這意味著有很多張嘴等著吃飯。專家認為，為了維系人類的生命，越來越多的人將不得不轉變為“食蟲族”，把蟲子作為食物。

The diets in high-income countries filled with meat, which are being replicated in low and middle-income countries, doesn’t seem sustainable considering the toll it takes on the environment and on our health.
高收入國家的一日三餐充斥著肉食，這種飲食結構也被中低收入國家所復制。但是考慮到這種飲食結構對環境和人體健康的危害，這看起來并不是能夠長期持續下去的。

And when you consider that snails are a delicacy in nations including France, people in Thailand already happily tuck into grasshoppers and crickets, and not much separates a prawn from a scorpion, then it all seems a lot more palatable.
但當你想到蝸牛在法國等國家被看作美食，泰國人津津有味地享用蚱蜢和蟋蟀，明蝦和蝎子的樣子差別也不大，這么一想吃蟲子好像也沒那么惡心了。

There are also health benefits to tucking into creepy crawlies. There are around 27g of protein per 100 grams, but between 35 to 48g in chapuline grasshoppers. And insects take up a lot less room than bigger livestock, like chicken, cows and pigs. In addition, most countries have access to or can import edible insects, with countries including Australia, China, and Mexico having a particularly large variety already available.
吃爬行動物對健康很有好處。每100克蟲子中就含有約27克的蛋白質，而每100克chapuline草蜢蛋白質含量可達35至48克。而且，蟲子占用的空間比雞、牛、豬等牲畜少得多。此外，大多數國家都能抓捕或進口到可食用的昆蟲。包括澳大利亞、中國、墨西哥在內的國家都擁有種類繁多的可食用昆蟲。

Designer Kobayashi Wataru is offering a small solution to the problem of making insects seem palatable for cultures where they aren’t yet widely eaten which his creation BugBug utensils. The range, which isn’t available in shops, includes especially designed chopsticks, a spork for picking up bugs, and a set of claws which slide over the fingers and help when eating bugs like crisps. He won UCL’s Institute of Making 'Cutlery Design Challenge' with his design last year.
通過發明“蟲蟲”餐具，設計師Kobayashi Wataru希望能夠讓蟲子在食蟲文化不發達的國家看起來可食用性更強。“蟲蟲”系列餐具包括專為吃蟲設計的筷子，用來挑起蟲子的叉勺，還有戴在手指上用來吃硬殼蟲類的“爪套”。Kobayashi Wataru去年憑借這一作品贏得了倫敦大學學院“餐具設計挑戰”獎。不過這個餐具系列目前還無法在商店里購買到。

But he says that people who have interacted with his project haven’t been entirely convinced to ditch their chicken for insects. Not yet, at least.
但是這位設計師表示，和他的項目有過互動的人對不吃雞肉改吃蟲肉的想法還不是很信服。至少目前還不太信服。

“I saw a girl covered her mouth while she was looking at the BUGBUG project,” he says of an incident when he was showing his work at the New Designers festival in London last year.
他提到了去年在倫敦的新設計師節上展示他的作品時發生的一件事情：“我看見一個女孩在看‘蟲蟲’項目時捂住了自己的嘴。”

“Some people have said it’s interesting or that it’s scary. And other people just said 'sorry I’m vegetarian'."
“一些人說這挺有趣或這真嚇人。還有一些人直接說：‘對不起，我是素食者。’”

At the same time, his work has also sparked debate. People have been surprisingly accepting, he says.
與此同時，他的作品也引發了討論。他表示，人們的接受能力還是挺強的，這讓人驚訝。

"At Designers block as part of London Design Festival, a Mexican lady told me they eat insects in her country already. Another Italian guy told me some Italian people ate cats long time ago in Venice.”
“在倫敦設計節的設計師展區內，一位墨西哥女士告訴我，在她的國家人們早就開始吃蟲子了。還有一位意大利男士告訴我，在威尼斯很久以前就有人吃貓。”

“If Western people and those in developed countries eat bugs, it might be possible to balance food resources across the world. Of course it wouldn’t be enough to only eat insects, as we have to reduce food wastes as well.”
“如果西方人和發達國家的人以蟲子為食，那么將可以更好地平衡全世界的食物資源。當然只靠吃蟲子是不夠的，我們還需要減少食物浪費。”

Those who are keen to get stuck in, he adds, shouldn’t attempt to eat bugs without doing some research beforehand.
他補充說，那些躍躍欲試的人在沒有做好調查研究之前，不應該輕易嘗試吃蟲子。

“If someone have an allergy for seashells, they might have the allergy from eating insects. Raw insects are also dangerous. So insects are not perfect foods. But if people don’t have allergy, they are worth trying. They taste good and they are nutritious. They just look bad. But if they were cheap and convenient to get, I would buy and eat them in my daily life. I’ve eaten grasshopper, mealworms, buffalo worms and crickets for my project.”
“如果有人對貝類食物過敏，他吃蟲子可能也會過敏。吃生蟲子也是危險的。從這個意義上來說蟲子并不是完美的食物。但如果你不過敏的話，吃蟲子值得一試。蟲肉味美又有營養，只是看上去很惡心。但如果蟲肉便宜又很容易買到，我在日常生活中也會買來吃。為了這個項目，我吃過草蜢、粉虱、水牛蠕蟲和蟋蟀。”

He says he was inspired by ancient objects like stone axes and hand tools, as well as cutlery used to snap open crabs and scoop the flesh from snails.
他稱發明這套餐具是受打開螃蟹殼和挖蝸牛肉的餐具的啟發，還從石斧和手工具等遠古物件上獲得了靈感。

“Entomophagy is one of the most difficult food plans to be adopted in society because nobody takes eating bugs seriously in daily life.”
“食蟲是社會上最難推行的食物計劃之一，因為日常生活中沒人會把吃蟲子當真。”

“I’d like to change the perception people have so they accept insects as meals in the future because we don’t have a lot of time until 2050.”
“我想改變人們的觀念，讓他們在未來接受昆蟲食品，因為在2050年到來之前我們并沒有太多時間。”

英文來源：獨立報
翻譯&編輯：丹妮

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