The superfood nobody wanted is finally here

BAD NEWS: Due to international agriculture shortages and exploding populations, delicious meat & produce may become luxury goods in as little as a decade!
GOOD NEWS: Food scientists have identified a super-sustainable alternative source of protein fit for human consumption!
WEIRD NEWS: It's crickets!

For centuries, people have been driven to crunch down on crickets (and their exoskeleton-y ilk) by famine, isolation, and sheer adventurousness. But to catapult ordinary grasshoppers into the recipe books & stomachs of mainstream eaters, Megan Miller (the co-founder of Bitty Foods) isn't turning the bugs into delicacies -- she's turning them into flour.

According to Miller's improbably fascinating Ted Talk (above), cricket meal has about 70g of protein per serving, and a feed-to-meat ratio that's 10x higher than beef.

Basically, it's a superfood that's super easy to produce -- plus it can be baked into familiar, non-antennaed foods like muffins & breads to make the whole "eating bugs" thing easier to stomach.

According to the UN, a global diet that includes insects can reduce greenhouse gases & food-production costs, and the start-up's cricket flour & baked goods -- available for preorder here -- are a step in that direction. Which brings us to the BEST NEWS: even if we run out of "normal" food sources in the near future, Jiminy Cricket just might be able to keep us from starving.

Dave Infante is a senior writer for Thrillist food & drink. Grasshopper cocktails? Yes. Grasshopper muffins? Eh... maybe after a few of those cocktails. Tweet at @dinfontay.