From chocolate to insects: Belgium promotes new diet at Expo Milano

Belgium, among countries from across the globe gathering in Milan to demonstrate their culinary cultures at the on-going 2015 World Expo, is promoting something rather unique - trying to get insects onto dinner tables for more people.

It comes as no surprise that Belgium makes great efforts in Milan to showcase its traditional products like chocolate, fries, waffles and beer.

In the spacious pavilion designed by award-winning Belgian architect Patrick Genard, visitors can enjoy the most exquisite monastery-brew beer and watch closely the magic of crafting chocolate performed by skillful chocolatiers.

But nothing is more eye-catching than the innovative exhibition to promote insects as the new food ingredient.

In December last year Belgium's Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) published a list of 10 insects that are now approved for human consumption, making it the first European country to allow insects to become lawful food ingredient.

At the exhibition, visitors can find out detailed information about these 10 insects, including larvae of mealworms, superworms, the African grasshopper and specific subspecies of crickets and beetles.

Curator of the exhibition, which is organized under the theme of "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", said that eating insects is one of the most promising solutions to increasing environmental pressure, worldwide food insecurity and the rising cost of animal protein.

However, the insect diet is still widely controversial in Europe. Even in Belgium there are only 5 people breeding insects for human consumption. The country is now taking the opportunity of Expo Milano to promote this new concept in the culinary world. Endit