ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — A Brooklyn chef is sharing his love for edible insects with the Quad Cities.
Chef Joseph Yoon, Edible Insect Ambassador from Brooklyn Bugs gave several talks at Augustana College and visited the News 8 studio on May 10 for The Current.
Monday, May 13 was his last day presenting at Augustana, where dozens of students, faculty and community members got to enjoy food like cricket nachos and cricket brownies. Yoon talked about the potential for insects as a sustainable food option and their nutritional value.
One student at the talk was environmental studies senior Abby Campisi. "I was really interested in how he connected insects to agriculture; that's a really big thing of mine," Campisi said.
After his presentations, Campisi said she wants to do more research on how insects can help farmers. "The protein aspect and feeding it to livestock — didn't know that was a thing, or pet food and stuff," Campisi said.
That idea made its way to central Illinois last month. Innovafeed, a French company that processes insect ingredients for animal feed, pet food and plant nutrition started operations at its North American Insect Innovation Center in Decatur, IL on April 18.
One Augustana professor is picking up a few ideas as well. "Having him here has definitely increased my confidence in cooking with insects," Associate Professor of Biology Tierny Brosius said. "I can see integrating a few recipes into future classes."
Brosius is an entomologist or insect expert. She now wants to teach and learn more about the perception of eating insects. "It talks about what we see as being a cultural norm and how that's really shaped with what we grow up with, and not necessarily what the science is behind it," she said.
Yoon said sometimes he's on tour for months talking about insects to schools but said it's worth it to inspire students. "Really, to know that there's such a big potential for research and academia, and that there's so much room for people to get a doctorate around edible insects — it's really incredible," Yoon said.
Yoon also said he'll be in Springfield soon for the cicada emergence. He said he's working with Augustana to make a return visit in the future.
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