Why I’m Not Excited About Drinking Roach Milk

All due respect, but come on people.

We live in a day where totally outlandish and random things happen all of the time.  The kind of stuff I’m talking about is usually stuff that people do for attention.

Now, what I’m talking about in this post may or may not be for attention (it definitely grabbed mine), but it is indeed very random and outlandish.

And it involves cockroaches.

Cockroach Milk?  Like, for real?

I read an article this past week that has revealed that scientists are looking into cockroach “milk” as a potential perfect food source for humans in the future.  Apparently, the potential “superfood” is a complete food, being described as such since it contains proteins, fats, amino acids and sugars.

I don’t plan on going into all of the juicy details (they are literally ‘juicy’, LOL) regarding how such milk is acquired (read that here), but since I know your mind is running, let me go ahead and clear some misconceptions.

First of all, this doesn’t involve hooking miniature suction cups to roach udders (they don’t have udders, in case you didn’t know).  Rather, it involves the extraction of protein crystals from the bellies of roach embryos after the embryos have ingested a certain liquid from the brood sac of mama roach.

As if that’s any better, right?

Why I Say No to Roach Milk as a Superfood

Now granted, the folks doing this research into Roach Milk as tomorrow’s superfood are looking into ways to solve potential future food crises, so kudos to them for that, but here’s why I believe Roach Milk just ain’t the answer:

1. Is it really worth it to spend money and time trying to either extract this special milk from roach embryos, or to try reverse engineering it as they say they would like to?  I think not.
2. Processed food isn’t the answer!  We spend so much time trying to engineer better foods instead of embracing the great, whole foods that have already been provided for us on this earth.  When will mankind get it that we can’t create a better food than what God has already provided?  It never works!
3. So, exactly how do folks plan on turning society on to the idea of buying cartons of Roach Milk at the supermarket?  I mean, you surely don’t (and won’t) have me on board.

What’s the Problem that Roach Milk is Trying to Solve, and How Do We Solve It?

We don’t need some other derived, man-made miracle food.  The problem is that we have an unsustainable food system that needs improvement, and that most of us now lack the education on how to really eat that many of our grandparents seemed to intuitively understand.  This is how I think we can accomplish this:

1. Promote small, multicrop farmers.  The huge government subsidies usually go to these huge monocrop farms that I believe aren’t actually that good for our health or for the environment.
2. Get as many people as possible planting their own gardens.  We must remember what it means to provide our own food and not just buy it from Kroger.  It’s healthier in so many ways, and in general, it’s good to not depend on one system to provide all of our sustenance.
3. Reduce meat consumption to just once or twice per week.  You really don’t need meat three times a day.  All of our meat consumption is arguably one of the biggest reasons we have all of these health problems in a country that spends tons on health care.  And plus, most meat is raised unsustainably in bad conditions, and it’s consequentially less healthy.
4. Use more research money to figure out how to do all of the points I mentioned above, with less money being spent on stuff like Roach Milk.

This is my honest opinion.  What’s yours?