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31 December 2018 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Igno van Niekerk
Insects on the menu
Beetle juice and bug flour; Drs Ismari van der Merwe and Cariena Bothma are researching the possibility of a high-protein diet consisting of insect ingredients.

You’ve just had a tasty milkshake made from grasshopper juice, now for a light snack. Your choice: Salty cricket cookies or a deep-fried ant delight?

One of these days the above delicatessen may just find its way to your local restaurant menu if Drs Ismari van der Merwe, Cariena Bothma, both lecturers in the Department of Consumer Science, and their enthusiastic team of students have their way. Insects as food are rich in protein, often tasty, and having them on a menu is not as far-fetched as you may think. After all, we know what culinary delights mopani worms – and yes – cooked land snails (enjoyed as escargots) have become over the years.

 

Cricket smackerals

 

When Dr Van der Mewe explains the benefits of her team’s vision for a high-protein diet consisting of insect ingredients (cricket flour as an example), one becomes aware that this could be the solution to a myriad of problems. Insects eat much less than our regular menu items such as cows (beef), sheep (lamb chops) or pigs (pork). Insects as an alternative diet will reduce the negative impact that larger animals have on the environment and greenhouse gases. Insects have faster life cycles and it takes less effort and space to breed and feed them.

“Ugh! Ick! Disgusting,” you might think. But picture the taste lab where volunteers are given regular chocolate cookies made with regular flour, and then asked to compare it with cookies made from cricket flour. Dr van der Merwe assures me that most people will be unable to distinguish between them, often even preferring the cricket smackerals.

 

Heathy alternative

 

Insect breakfast cereals, granola, and snack food is a real and viable solution for the developing world where food is scarce, and hunger is a real issue. But is it healthy? Dr Van der Merwe assures me that during the process of ‘bug to flour’, they are addressing the main concern: micro-organisms that might be detrimental to health. Once the insects or processed insect by-products arrive on your plate, it’s a healthy high-protein alternative that might become the next revolutionary diet.

So, stand aside Atkins, beware Banting, and be gone Gluten-free – there is a new diet on its way to the menu. Brace yourself for beetle juice and bug flour: a diet full of proteins, fat, energy, and essential amino acids. 

 

News Archive

UFS releases draft charter to accelerate transformation
2007-02-02

The University of the Free State (UFS) today released a draft Institutional Charter which is intended to enhance and accelerate the ongoing transformation of the institution towards a non-racial, non-sexist future.

Speaking at the official opening of the university today, the Rector and Vice-chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, said the draft Institutional Charter, was an important milestone in the transformation debate for the university and the country.

“The draft charter acknowledges that black people, women and people with disabilities have been marginalised from job and developmental opportunities, within the higher education sector and at this university,” Prof Fourie said.

The charter commits the university to meeting the challenges of a transforming higher education institution in a developing society, in particular the challenges of nation-building, reconciliation, redress, non-racialism and non-sexism – and ultimately normalisation – within a high-quality academic institution.

The principles of the draft charter firmly signal the university’s commitment to diversity – attaining and maintaining substantive and sufficient diversity (including multiculturalism and multilingualism) – in its quest for quality and excellence. 
Prof Fourie said the draft charter seeks to build consensus among staff and students at the UFS about the ultimate goals of transformation at a higher education institution.

The charter proposes several basic values and principles that should guide the transformation process and at the same time serve as a basis for a future, normalised university - a promised land to transform towards.

The discussion document says academic quality is intrinsically linked to transformation and it commits the university to strengthening the core competencies of research, teaching and learning as well as community service so as to ensure a robust university for future generations.

“Indeed the thousands of matriculants, black and white, who apply to study at the UFS want to study at a good university, and a good university wants to attract the best black and white students and the best black and white staff, male and female,“ Prof Fourie said.

He said the draft charter also seeks to safeguard academic freedom and institutional autonomy as the foundation of critical inquiry and scholarship.

Regarding the critical issue of creating a new institutional culture, the draft charter commits the UFS to creating a sense of belonging for all members of the university – black and white, male and female, of whatever language, religious, cultural or economic background, as well as people with disabilities.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:  (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl@mail.uovs.ac.za
02 February 2007

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