How far would you go for superfood? Pay lots of money for it? Well, if you are an enthusiast with good disposal income, that’s not out of question, but the question is really not quite about money. The real question here should be: would you consume anything that is so-called superfood? Like really anything? When I said “anything,” I mean to include cockroach milk.
You heard that right. Apparently, roach milk could be a thing and it is supposedly richer in protein (as much as four times more than cow’s), loaded with amino acids that promote cell growth and it is highly glycosylated which basically means they are a good energy source too. Now, before you go around and start hunting for roaches, you have to know that not all cockroaches are good for milking – if they even have any milk at all.
You see, most cockroaches are viviparous. Meaning their young grow in eggs outside of the mother’s body, but there is one particular species, the Pacific Beetle cockroach which is a Hawaii native, does not; instead, it does live birth. Prior to the live birth, the mother feeds the embryos inside of her with a liquid milk-like substance. That there, my friends, is the cockroach milk we are talking about.
As you can imagine, not a lot comes from a single roach. That, plus the fact that getting your hands on the minuscule quantity is time consuming and rather cruel. Unlike cow’s or goat’s milk, it can’t be milked. Getting to the milk requires one to slay the insect and not just slay it anyhow. It has to be sliced precisely in the middle to allow the “nutrient-rich mike crystals” to spill out of the guts.
Ewwww… I don’t sympathize with roaches, but it is not my thing to slice them. I usually just stomp it and be done with it. Slicing it sounds like a slow death for them. Anywho, scientists have sort of proven the milk’s nutritional value, it will be a crazy endeavor just to try packing a carton. Imagine the number of roaches you will need.
What’s even worst is, since we’d be killing them to get to the milk, the supply isn’t sustainable which means, you need billions, if not trillions of them to mass produce them like diary milk. But I think the most important thing is, I will not want it to be anywhere near my mouth, much less inside my guts.
As a consolation, you probably won’t even know you have consumed it if it was mixed in your coffee or whatever because, according to biochemist Subramanian Ramaswamy’s colleague who have ingested some, it is pretty much tasteless (the research was from a few years ago, btw). Still, it is thanks but no thanks for me. I am good with regular diary milk. Hell, I don’t even drink goat milk, let alone venturing into insect’s milk.
Damn. Just typing this alone leave an imaginary bad taste in mouth. Now, if you will excuse me,. I need to head out for my a few hourly coffee fix with regular milk.
Image and source: All That Is Interesting.
