80% of the world already eats insects.

Consider the cricket. Crickets are nutritionally complete, contain fiber, Omega-3 fatty acids, and a slew of other important vitamins and minerals. They take up just 2 square feet of pasture per pound versus beef’s 200 square feet. They emit zero greenhouse gases. And pertinent to this conversation, they require only one gallon of water for every one pound grown. Even the United Nations put out a report calling edible insects a “key to global food security”.

For the uninitiated, the idea of popping a whole insect into your mouth sounds rather unappealing. But properly prepared, they’re quite delicious. Insects, like coffee, can be roasted and milled into a fine powder that is easily incorporated into the foods we eat every day. Chips, cookies and bars containing this highly sustainable, all natural ingredient are already on the market. And if no one mentioned it, you would never know it’s there, as crickets, which are the most popular insect du jour in the US to date (the “gateway bug”, if you will), have a nutty flavor that ironically mirrors that of almonds.

The company I cofounded, Bitty Foods, is doing exactly what I just described, by creating an all purpose, high protein baking flour we turn into delicious cookies, or as a cup for cup flour substitute in any recipe. It’s this movement toward alternative protein sources and delivery mechanisms that could reduce our dependency on meat, and in turn, help reverse our current water shortage.