This Canadian company produces tasty snack bars, crackers, and smoothie powders that are nutritious and environmentally friendly.

A box of crickets appeared on my doorstep last week. More specifically, they were crickets that had been transformed into tasty food -- olive and chili crackers and snack bars flavored with lemon-lime, cinnamon-cardamom, and chili-chocolate -- by a Montreal-based company called Crickstart that sources all its insects from an organic cricket farm in Ontario.

Crickstart is one of a number of startups that is working hard to introduce insects into the Western diet. The motivation is partly for nutrition, partly for environmental concerns. It is difficult to argue against eating crickets once you realize how many problems they resolve when it comes to sourcing animal protein.

First, there's the ethical issue. No one is too worried about how crickets feel about their conditions. As Corey Mintz wrote for the Globe and Mail, "Even with a million crickets raised in a shoebox, not even PETA is likely to shed a tear for the conditions in which insects are kept." But even if you did, the crickets like being cramped. Crickstart explains: