Matthew Krisiloff, founder of Entom Foods, wants you to eat bugs.

‘I would’ve been like everyone else, thinking, ‘Ew, this is gross,’ until I read all the facts,’ he said.

What started as a submission for an entrepreneurship competition in his first year at the University of Chicago, turned into a project he said he hopes to make into a full-time career.

In his global issues class, Krisiloff learned that America’s agricultural system won’t be sustainable in the future because of issues such as population growth. He also read that insects are eaten widely around the world.

‘It just snowballed from there,’ said Krisiloff, now in his sophomore year at UChicago.

Insects are the future of meat — at least, that’s the idea behind Entom Foods, an organization that promotes bugs as an alternative source of meat.

Entom Foods is campaigning for insects to be served at every restaurant and grocery store nationwide.

‘That’s our dream goal,’ Krisiloff said, adding that, realistically, this won’t be obtained within the next five to 10 years.

His company is currently working on clarifying the myths behind the consumption of insect meat, getting rid of the initial ‘ew’ factor associated with eating insects.

‘People in America associate insects with dirtiness,’ he said.

Krisiloff said he believes that the company’s future methods of preparing the insects will help turn this viewpoint around. While other cultures have no problem serving insects simply baked and seasoned, that may be a little more than Americans can chew. Instead, he said, he plans to remove the exoskeleton of the insect and only serve the meat.

Maggie Schumann, a freshman international studies major at UChicago, said she has never heard of Entom foods because it doesn’t have a large presence on campus.

‘I think it kind of sounds disgusting and I do not think I would ever consider eating bug meat,’ she said in an email. ‘I might try it once, just to say I tried it but I would definitely not make it a habit or lifestyle.’

Krisiloff said that once he presents all the research he’s done about the subject, people will be more accepting to the idea of eating insects.

Whether insect meat is in our future is hard to say, but Krisiloff said he stays hopeful. He said restaurants in Los Angeles and Chicago are already serving insect meat on a daily basis, and other cities are starting to hold insect tastings in their local communities.

Entom Foods has been featured in The New York Times, the Huffington Post and Time Out Chicago.

‘It’s very exciting,’ Krisiloff said. ‘We’ve been getting a lot of press, and we don’t even have a product.’

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Published on October 12, 2011 at 12:00 pm

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