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by neuronflux 2533 days ago
Reminds me of the movie Snowpiercer[1]. The "protein blocks" served to the population are made from ground-up cockroaches.

The setting is on a train during an ice-age so they really need to make use of the space efficiently. They don't really go into what the cockroaches eat, I can only assume waste from the population.

1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1706620/
2 comments
wyldfire 2533 days ago
IIRC the way it's presented in the film was as a horrifying surprise -- or perhaps as an element of the subjugation/cruelty that the movie focused on. But when I watched it all I could think of was, "Uh, yeah, that's actually the kinda thing that we're considering now."
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YeGoblynQueenne 2533 days ago
In Snowpiercer, it was only the poor inhabitants of the last coaches that were fed insect protein bars. The rich and powerful in the first coaches ate fillet mignon and the like.

My guess is that is how things would play out with insects as food for humans in the real world, too. The poor will have to eat grubs and crickets "for the environment" while the rich continue to eat as and what they please.

This is my guess based on my experience of how food works in the UK. If you can afford it, you can eat fresh fruit and vegetables, or the best cuts of meat. If you can't, then tough: it's kebabs, sliced bread that's high in trans fats, sugars and salts, and at best tinned veg and fruit, for you.

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IdiocyInAction 2533 days ago
> If you can afford it, you can eat fresh fruit and vegetables, or the best cuts of meat. If you can't, then tough: it's kebabs, sliced bread that's high in trans fats, sugars and salts, and at best tinned veg and fruit, for you.

What? In continental Europe vegetables, fresh or tinned, are by far the cheapest option. Meat is always expensive.

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noirbot 2533 days ago
Yea, it was played as almost a "Soylent Green is People!" sort of reveal, but I couldn't help but just think it was pretty much the only reasonable way to handle food in the setup. If it tastes good enough, and you've gotten used to eating it, what's really wrong? It's not like it's some ethical horror to be eating bugs.
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wyldfire 2533 days ago
> It's not like it's some ethical horror to be eating bugs.

In fact (AFAIK) in some countries outside of the US it's not even uncommon/surprising. That's what I thought was weird: the director was Korean. IIRC there's Asian cultures that eat scorpions or other similar stuff.

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stirfrykitty 2533 days ago
Or the "portions" that Rey was buying from the trading post in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
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