BY OWEN SCARROW
Crickets are making their way into your food.
The Royal Winter Fair is home to hundreds of vendors each year, and visitors are bound to find new experiences everywhere they go. One of those vendors this year was new insect-based food company Crickstart, and its cricket products are turning both heads and stomachs.
At Crickstart, the goal is to produce healthier, different food that is also more environmentally sustainable to produce. While at the Royal, the Sun spoke to Crickstart community manager Erin Little about how the thought of eating insects is strange, but using them may help to make a healthier, more sustainable planet.
“The really cool thing about crickets is just how sustainable they are,” explained Little. “If you compare them to other livestock they take a fraction of the resources; less water, food, obviously less land… they’re just a super sustainable, healthy snack.”
Using crickets as opposed to cattle in their products has affected sustainability of the environment they use. Per gram, crickets use 2,000 times less water, 12 times less food, and produce 80 times less methane than those who use cattle.
The two main products at Crickstart are protein bars and crackers. While the protein bars are high in protein, vitamin B12 and iron, the crackers have all of those and much more. “Because of the flax seed that we use in here you’re getting Omega-3 and 6, so if you’re looking for a healthy snack that’s going to get you through the day these always make a great option.”
If you are looking into trying out some of their products, they have a website where you can shop for all of their products including bundles, value packs, and even t-shirts. They have all three protein bar flavours (cinnamon cardamom, chilli chocolate, and lemon lime), as well as their two flavours of crackers (chilli and olive). They also appear in shops near all three Sheridan campuses such as Healthy Planet, Goodness Me, and Loblaws stores.
With their most popular products already on the market, and with protein powders and other products coming soon, you can bet you’ll be seeing Crickstart in stores near you very soon.
