Insects as Food for Capitalism – The Entomophagy Frontier in Laos, Thailand and beyond

Insects as Food for Capitalism – The Entomophagy Frontier in Laos, Thailand and beyond

Author

Series Title

ISBN

DOI

https://doi.org/10.56907/gsn89a6a

Binding

Paperback

Publication Date

June 12, 2022

No. of Pages

224

Size

59.00

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Are insects the food of the future, alleviating world hunger and ecological issues? In this book, based on extensive field research in Laos and Thailand, the author suggests otherwise. He describes local transformations in ‘entomophagy’ and explores differences between South East Asian and Western food cultures before presenting a deconstruction of the widespread ‘insect solution narrative’. Empirical observations are discussed mainly in the light of the World-Ecology approach, seeing the exploitation of humans and nature as inextricably intertwined. The main argument targets the commodification of edible insects and related resources, denoted by the central concept of the ‘entomophagy frontier’.
Unfolded along the lines of the distinction between wild-collected and farmed insects, it holds that the emerging entomophagy industry tends to reinforce the problems it addresses by ignoring their structural causes: social inequality, systemic unsustainability and ultimately the insatiability of capitalism.

Author

Series Title

ISBN

DOI

https://doi.org/10.56907/gsn89a6a

Binding

Paperback

Publication Date

June 12, 2022

No. of Pages

224

Size

About the author

Andrew Müller, M.A., studied Sociology/Social Sciences and Area Studies with a focus on Asia at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is now an independent scholar and journalist.

About the series

Developments in the field of area studies — goaded by the analytical deconstruction of world regions from their geopolitical sense — have deeply affected the knowledge production from societies and cultures located in the politicized compartmentalization of the globe. With this series, the editors and authors wish to contribute to a reformulation of sensibilities in area studies which emphasizes the epistemic value of contextualized knowledge production. Starting with the notion of Southeast Asia, books published in this series will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of regionality based on a multidisciplinary approach. The series represents an outlet for young scholars intending to publish their degree theses; and for established scholars who are looking for a place to republish out-of-print books. We also encourage scholarly collectives from the regions to publish collaborative works or edited volumes on topics that usually will not attract the attention of big presses due to their transdisciplinary orientation.

Editorial Board

Prof. Caroline S. Hau
Prof. Vincent Houben
Prof. Boike Rehbein
Prof. Barend Terwiel
Dr. Xue Li
Dr. Benjamin Baumann
Dr. Daniel Bultmann

Table Of Contents

1. Introduction …………………………………………………….1

Methods and Methodology ………………………………………..9

Laos and Thailand …………………………………………………… 14

2. (Culinary) Transformations in Laos

and Thailand ………………………………………………….17

Western Disgust vs. Asian Routine? …………………………. 17

Setting the Scene to Explore a Food Taboo …………. 23

Traditions of Insect-Eating in Laos and Thailand ……………………………………………………..24

The Rural Decline of Entomophagy in a Cultural

Materialist Perspective …………………………………………….. 29

The Urban Revival of Insect-Eating in a

Structuralist Perspective ………………………………………….. 40

Westernisation, Multiple (Insect) Modernities

and Capitalism ………………………………………………………… 57

Interim Conclusion …………………………………………………. 67

3. The ‘Entomophagy Industry’ as a

Commodity Frontier ……………………………………..71

Challenging the Insect Solution Narrative ……………….. 73

Entomophagy and Marx: Inequality and

Capitalist Exploitation in the Insect Trade ……………….. 81

Edible Insects from a World-Ecological Perspective:

The Entomophagy Frontier ……………………………………………………… 93

The ‘Wild Insect Frontier’ ……………………………………………………….100

Insect Farming as a Technical Fix to Restore Cheap

Nature/Food …………………………………………………………………………..110

Cricket Farming in Thailand ……………………………………………..113

A Global Frontier ………………………………………………………………118

Insect ‘Sustainability’ and the Hope of Reducing

Negative-Value ……………………………………………………………………….128

Feeding Thai Crickets: Organic Waste vs. Fish Meal …………..130

Feed Conversion Fetishism ………………………………………………..136

Additional Consumption and the Fallacy of ‘Green

Insect Capitalism’ ………………………………………………………………142

A Failing Techno-Fix Increasing Negative-Value? ………………146

Black Soldier Flies as Animal Feed, Biotechnology

and the Whole Insect Frontier ………………………………………………..152

4. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 159

BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………… 167

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