Would vegetarians and/or vegans have a problem with eating insects for protein?

Also comment on this if you dare!

If eating meat is "not natural" for humans, please explain the presence of canine teeth in our heads.

I wouldn't deliberately eat an insect. It's still an animal.

I think some people have a problem understanding what is an animal and what isn't an animal. Some people, in this day and age, still think animals just means mammals, or just mammals and reptiles, or just mammals and reptiles and birds, or just mammals and reptiles and birds and amphibians, or just mammals and reptiles and birds and amphibians and fish. Some people don't even think humans are animals!

In truth, it includes any living thing which is not a plant - so therefore insects, arachnids, worms, mollusks, crustaceans, etc. are all animals. The only grey area that I can think of, is when it gets down to microbes - some display characteristics of animals, some of plants.

As I say, I wouldn't deliberately eat an animal. You can't avoid doing it accidentally. I'm sure that, in the last 30+ years as a vegetarian, there have probably been some tiny insects and insect eggs in food that I have consumed. You take whatever precautions you can to try to prevent it happening, of course.

I'm fairly sure, also, that I would have, in the last 30 years, probably eaten the equivalent of a chicken, a quarter of a sheep, an eighth of a pig, a sixteenth of an ox, and a dozen eggs - just in undeclared additives in processed foods, traces in restaurant food, etc. It's not something I've done deliberately. It's not something I'm particularly happy with. It just happens. It's unavoidable - just like the insects and insect eggs getting into your food, and swallowing insects and spiders in your sleep, and things like that.

But, I would NEVER deliberately eat an animal - mammal, fish, bird, reptile, insect, worm, whatever.

As for canine teeth, I go with a previous poster on that. You need them to tear through some tough plants. But, you only have four of them. You have eight incisors, also useful for tearing tough plants. And the big thing is, the MAJORITY of your teeth are molars and premolars, which carnivores do NOT possess. They are for chewing and grinding PLANT foods. Face it - if we were meant to eat other animals, we would need a lot more than four canine teeth.

Other primates - our closest living relatives - eat insects, sure, it's part of their social bonding process - preening and picking insects off each other and then eating the little parasites. It probably also slightly reduces the incidence of insect-borne diseases amongst the primates. But, it's a very tiny part of their diet. They still get their protein from plant sources.

I'll turn this around now and ask you, as an animal-eater, would YOU deliberately eat an insect? Be honest. You seem to enjoy baiting V & V, but can you take it yourself?

An escargo is a mollusc, like a clam or scallop. They are delicacies in refined cultures around the world. They are NOT insects. Count the legs, eh? Report Abuse

Have to go with Hangfire on that one. Snails and other gastropods are mollusks. But thanks for the 10 points, dude! Report Abuse

Gees being neither I would have a problem with it ,and Why?

What do you mean by "have a problem"?

Vegetarians do not eat animals.

Insects are animals.

Most people go without eating any insects and there is no problem that stems from it. Why are vegetarians any different?

I don't care how much meat you eat but your "canine" teeth argument is a joke.

Everyone eats like 8 spiders a year in their sleep, so no one is truly vegan.

I don't think eating bugs is vegetarian, because no matter how small or annoying they are, i still consider them animals and they are living beings. It is unfair for me to eat them, even though you can argue that it is the food chain and everything. These are my ideas. You can argue if you want but I won't change them.

It wouldn't taste nice dude :O

I would not eat a vegetable that is so tough that I would need to use my canines to rip through it. I'm not some kind of animal.

Throw that sucker in the microwave or steamer first!

They should have a problem with eating insects. I do, because they are still an animal.

And who said eating meat is unnatural. But it is a mistake to think that historically humans were ever big meat eaters, as they tended to get most of their nourishment from plants. And some of those plants and their skins are tough and need to be ripped through, hence canines.

Um... YOU need to explain why we have FOUR extremely dull "cutting teeth" which look NOTHING like the razor sharp teeth of natural omnivores, compared to TWENTY-FOUR flat teeth.

gross, im a vegetarian and i hate insects i would kill a bug but i wouldnt eat one.

I said its unethical not unnatural.

First no I would not eat insects for any reason. Nor do I have to since there are plenty of vegetarian safe ways of getting enough protein.

As for the canine teeth there are many things one cannot explain that doesn't prove anything. Why do we have wisdom teeth or a appendix?

I have been vegetarian for over 12 years and I am very healthy. I see no reason what so ever to eat animals. It just isn't necessary so why would I?!

We don't have canine teeth. Have you ever looked at a cat's teeth? Ours look nothing like theirs.

No, of course we wouldn't eat insects "for protein." We don't eat anything that shits or had a mother.

Get some new material. You're way behind.

Yeah. If you eat a bug (which is an animal since it's in the kingdom animalia), it goes against the definition of vegan.

And while I don't think it's "unnatural", I think vegetarianism is kinda like how we evolved to use tools. It's all about progression ; ]
And while yes, we have canines, we also have molars (used to eat plants). I think naturally, we were supposed to eat both. But no one in our society can say they're totally natural or they'd be out in the woods in a shack somewhere.

I would not intentionally eat insects, unless I found myself in a situation where it was the only way to survive. In certain places they are a necessary food source, and I would never say that it is wrong for a person to eat insects (or any other food source) if it is necessary for survival. There's also the whole unintentional eating of insects thing, but since you are asking about "as a protein source," I don't think that is what your question is really about.

And you are correct, we do have certain features like our teeth that make us capable of being omnivores--those features have helped our species survive through times when vegetables were our primary food, as well as times when meat was our primary food. Our species is adaptable, and that is great. However, I personally am fortunate enough to not HAVE to eat meat to survive at this point, so I see no reason to cause suffering since I do not have to.