From the 13 to the 15 of August 2018, was held the second North-American conference on edible insects. This year, it was located in Athens, Georgia. This city is famous for its huge university and its entomological department training the future edible insect’s experts. We were honoured to be invited and to represent our beautiful country. Yes, in France, we love eating insects! Don’t move, as bug-traveller, we will tell you everything about the event!
An unforgivable conference on edible insects
After the international conference on edible insects in China, we were present in the US for a new event more focused on the North-American market.
During the 3 buzzy days of conference, it was :
- 40 presentations for learning more about edible insects
- An open event for presenting the environmental and nutritonal benefits of entomophagy to children and adults.
- A dinner prepared with love by Joseph Yoon, a chef and expert in insect cuisine.
- A vendor expo where we offered our crispy crickets and grasshoppers.
- Meeting many old friends and making new ones!
- Bonus : Yoga for the early-birds
Among the different presentations, we were specially delighted by :
- Amy Franklin stories who is working in Africa for developing insect farming to help reduce malnutrition.
- The results of Valerie Stull studies on positive effects of crickets consumption on our guts microbiota.
- The photos taken by Kayla Herd during her trip in Mexico presenting the nutritional benefits of the famous Mexican grasshoppers, known as « chapulines »
The insect cuisine menu prepared by Joseph Yoon was a culinary trip to discover what were the insects eaten around the world. Among the acidic ants on cucumbers, the cricket fritters and small yellow scorpion, the curry rice with sesame and cumin mealworms was enjoyed by many.
And what were we doing?
Jimini’s discussing the habit of eating insects across European countries
For being totally honest with you; Florian was a little bit stressed… He was one of the few speakers who wasn’t a native speaker, he had to be fluid to keep the audience active. And represent JIMINI’S and France in front of such a big audience, that’s something!
The topic of his presentation was the evolution of insect consumption across different European countries. According to the audience’s reaction, we can say that it was « MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! « . (It’s possible that the offering of chocolate & fig cricket protein bar influenced their reactions…)
In conclusion, it was a great experience that allows to build a bridge and connect with professionals passionate about developing the edible insects’ industry. (And it was also a good way for eating insects with friends:) )
Dr Marianne Shockley, who organized the conference, presented our cricket protein bars as great snacks that you should always have in your bag to replenish your energy. This was very useful during the last day for the hike across Athens forest… By the way, what do you bring during your hiking? Discover here 5 things to bring during a hike!
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