Golan Heights (AFP)

Convinced that this is a sustainable solution to meet the global food challenge, an Israeli company aims to be the first to market grasshoppers on a large scale. One question remains: are these ultra-protein insects kosher?

In a shed that once served as a chicken coop, thousands of grasshoppers swirl around in small, meticulously stacked cages.

"Grasshoppers are the solution," Dror Tamir, managing director of the Hargol company, told AFP during a visit to premises in the part of the Syrian Golan occupied and annexed by Israel. About 25,000 Israeli settlers live in this territory.

Concerned about the impact of livestock on the environment, Mr. Tamir founded his company six and a half years ago and would like it to be "the first to produce grasshoppers on a commercial scale to provide the world with a healthier and more sustainable source of protein ".

Behind his idea of ​​feeding these insects to as many people as possible, there are childhood memories: he certainly remembers the stories according to which locusts - a kind of grasshopper - destroyed the fields of the kibbutz in the 1950s where he grew up. But he remembers above all that the Jews of Yemeni origin reveled in it.

Aware that these little beasts can seem off-putting, the Hargol company ("grasshopper" in Hebrew) transforms them into powder, which is then used to make energy bars, gelatin candies, hotdogs, falafels and other cookies.

- "Yuck" -

With a world population that could reach 10 billion by 2050, feeding the planet will become a challenge, notes Ram Reifen, professor of nutrition at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"What we fear is a lack of sources of protein," he told AFP, knowing that livestock, which requires a lot of water, will be a growing problem.

But before being processed, that is to say often grilled or fried, grasshoppers contain more than 70% of proteins, but also amino acids and other nutrients, underlines Mr. Tamir.

“They've got all the good, without the bad,” like saturated fat and cholesterol, he says, and could therefore replace other sources of protein like meat.

According to him, around 2.5 billion people regularly consume insects, primarily grasshoppers.

"But when it comes to targeting North American and European consumers, it is very difficult to overcome the 'yuck' factor," notes Mr. Tamir, who will soon be marketing powder for making pancakes. .

Products made in the occupied Golan are subject to export restrictions as the international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty.

But besides the Golan Heights are being raised at one site in the Galilee and the powder is produced elsewhere in Israel, Tamir says, allowing him to bypass the restrictions.

- Bible -

Original selling point: The small jars containing cooked grasshoppers and the insect powder cereal bars bear the inscription "Biblical protein".

The locusts are mentioned in the Old Testament: it is one of the ten plagues of Egypt inflicted by God on Pharaoh to force him to free the Jews held in slavery. Swarms of locusts have, according to the text, devoured every bit of greenery, causing the ruin of Egypt.

In Leviticus, one of the five books of the Pentateuch, a passage specifies that certain species of locusts are kosher.

Mr. Tamir would like to introduce the grasshopper into Israeli cuisine, but he would need a certificate from the Chief Rabbinate stating that it is indeed a kosher dish.

The trouble, according to Rabbi Eliezer Simcha Weisz, is that European rabbinical literature has "explicitly stated that we do not have a tradition of eating them."

While Jews in Yemen and North Africa have been fond of it for decades, Ashkenazi Jews (Central and Eastern Europe) have never eaten it.

The subject is being debated in the Chief Rabbinate Council and issuing a certificate could take time, the rabbi said.

He notes, however, that "the fact that the Torah says it is edible seems to indicate that it may be the food of the future."

“Who would have believed it?” He laughs.

While waiting for the certificate, Dror Tamir decided to enrich the range by offering honey with the jar of grasshoppers.

"According to the New Testament, John the Baptist used to eat locusts with honey."

© 2020 AFP