
Exo: Protein Bars made from Cricket Flour - bhuga
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exoprotein/exo-protein-bars-made-from-cricket-flour
======
dbarlett
It's slightly misleading to call this "revolutionary" \- another cricket bar
project [1] was funded on Kickstarter last year and appears to be in full
production [2].

[1] [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/466721916/the-worlds-
fir...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/466721916/the-worlds-first-
cricket-bar)

[2] [http://chapul.com/revolutionary-
supplies/](http://chapul.com/revolutionary-supplies/)

~~~
iam
I was wondering what the difference in ingredients was, so I put together this
list from their sites

Chapul (Chaco Bar) ingredients:

    
    
      * Dates
      * Peanuts
      * Toasted Oats
      * Chocolate Chips
      * Walnuts
      * Agave Nectar
      * Cricket Flour
      * Gryllus
      * Flax Seed Meal
      * Salt
    

Exo (Cacao Nut) ingredients:

    
    
      * Raw Almonds
      * Dates
      * Coconut
      * Honey
      * Cricket Flour
      * Raw Cacao Nibs
      * Raw Cacao Powder
      * Vanilla Extract
      * Sea Salt

------
mertd
20g fat (5g saturated), 27g carbs (14g sugar), 10g protein.

Not that great for a "protein" bar.

~~~
fragsworth
"Taste first", they said. Protein, no matter what the source, unfortunately
doesn't taste great, so I guess their workaround is to not use much protein...

~~~
ars
> Protein, no matter what the source, unfortunately doesn't taste great

Um, meat? Unless you mean sweet protein in which case I agree.

~~~
fragsworth
I mean protein by itself (without fats or sugars)

Even meat protein kinda sucks if you cook all the fat out of it.

~~~
rdl
What's the problem with protein/fat bars? Rancidity? There are fats (possibly
not those found next to meat) which can be more shelf-stable; I wonder if you
could use those fats, protein, and chemicals extracted from the tasty fat to
have the right stability, taste, and nutrition profile. But that would be
"evil food science" so people wouldn't think it was "healthy" I guess.

~~~
ars
It exists - it's called Pemmican.

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jacques_chester
It actually has a comparable nutritional profile to commercial waffles:

[http://i.imgur.com/rg4DN02.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/rg4DN02.jpg)

(Substantially fewer overall calories for almost as much protein, is the
punchline)

Whey is cheap and plentiful. If you don't like the idea of cows, soy and pea
protein is cheap and plentiful.

~~~
e12e
Only problem with those waffles, is that if you eat 100% of your "daily"*
protein needs, you eat too much sodium.

 _In case of "daily" needs, I think protein is a bit of an odd one out -- if
you work out hard, you need _a lot more* protein than the "average" don't ever
move at all person. I'm not even sure where the US daily values are from/what
they relate to. If they truly are average, I suspect they are wildly wrong for
anyone that actually exercise their bodies in a healthy way.

------
cncool
It really grinds my gears when companies call bars with more sugar than
protein as "protein bars".

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lvs
"... born out of a frustration with other protein bars." That's a pretty low
threshold for frustration, I'd say.

------
chops
A lot of folks are posting bars with similar or better macro-nutrients, but in
doing so are missing the point of these bars: their primary market is the
paleo crowd. All the ingredients are natural and the list is short, basic, and
acceptable to a paleo diet: almonds, dates, coconut, honey, crickets, cacao,
vanilla, and sea salt. Compared with the ingredients list for a MetRX bar[1]
posted elsewhere in this thread, it's an obvious choice for a follower of the
"paleo lifestyle", even if the macros are comparable.

Even the Quest bars, which definitely have better macros than these bars, are
pretty good for someone doing a ketogenic diet, but not acceptable for a paleo
diet due to the use of peanuts, milk, chocolate, and sucralose.

[1] Metamyosyn® VPP Protein Blend (Whey Protein Isolate, Milk Protein
Concentrate, Casein, Calcium Caseinate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, Egg
White, L-Glutamine), Maltitol Syrup, Soy Protein Isolate, Fractionated Palm
Kernel Oil, Cocoa (processed with alkali), Maltitol, Glycerin, Fructose,
Invert Sugar, Natural Flavor, Water, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Corn Syrup,
Fructooligosaccharides, Polydextrose, Tapioca Starch, Vitamin and Mineral
Blend (Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Phosphate, Potassium Lactate, Magnesium
Oxide, Ascorbic Acid, Ferric Orthophosphate, d-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate,
Niacinamide, Zinc Oxide, Copper Gluconate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A
Palmitate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Folic
Acid, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Cyanocobalamin), Unsweetened Chocolate,
Cellulose, Enzyme Modified Soy Protein, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Pectin, Sugar,
Sucralose, Soybean Oil, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan.

~~~
kenster07
Your assertion is only correct in the near-term.

The ultimate market is the world's poor.

~~~
jacques_chester
The rise of China demonstrates that when they get the chance, the world's poor
switch to a diet rich in meat.

It also demonstrates that not starving to death is more important than
fretting about how many grass seeds are in the foodstuff at hand.

------
GoNB
I prefer DIY protein bars with whey powder and ingredients from
nutsonline.com.

See 1st recipe: [http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-
bar...](http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/diy-protein-bars-healthy-bars-
in-5-easy-steps.html)

~~~
tocomment
That sounds good. Can I get your sources for the ingriedients? Also do they
need to be stored frozen?

------
TheEzEzz
Awesome. People (and animals) have been eating insects in healthy doses for
far longer than soy or whey, so I'm more comfortable eating this than the
standard protein sources. I hope this takes off.

~~~
harshreality
I just hope they develop healthier versions, particularly without so much
sugar.

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nhangen
This is gross. I'm a vegetarian, so I'm biased, but am I the only one that
thinks moving from animal sourced protein to slow roasted crickets sounds
obscene?

~~~
quail
If the crickets are "slow roasted" alive, that is cruel (and alarming)
although I certainly hope and would think this isn't the case.

Anyone have any clarification?

~~~
ars
I don't know how they make them, but keep in mind crickets can't feel pain,
and are cold blooded (so can't really feel temperature either).

~~~
quail
They can't feel pain? You have a citation for that claim?

~~~
ars
> You have a citation for that claim?

You can use google just as well as I can. Search for "insect feel pain".

They don't have the necessary nerves to carry pain signals.

As an example, if you cut off part of the leg of an ant it keeps walking like
normal, and doesn't show any indication that it felt anything. (They used this
with a cool experiment that showed ants count steps when navigating - the
shorter legs meant they walked a shorter distance, but kept the same number of
steps.)

~~~
quail
I _did_ research this topic and recent studies show insects DO feel pain, and
unlike you I have a citation to back it up:
[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867403...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867403002721)

~~~
ars
No, this shows the larva are able to sense heat, not pain.

Read the actual paper, not the title.

------
muratmutlu
This doesn't stack up too good against a Met-Rx ProteinPlus bar

Serving size 85g Total fat 10g (saturated 8g) Carbs 33g (sugars 3g) Protein
32g

[http://www.metrx.com/protein-bars/protein-plus-creamy-
cookie...](http://www.metrx.com/protein-bars/protein-plus-creamy-cookie-
crisp-90-g)

However I think the idea is amazing. It's early days for this stuff I'm sure
but it has potential. There needs to be tests for absorption of protein etc

------
kenster07
I like this concept.

"Introduce to the west" claims aside (see
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/466721916/the-worlds-
fir...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/466721916/the-worlds-first-
cricket-bar)), I'm generally a supporter of being able to feed the world's
population in worst case scenarios.

------
acjohnson55
My biggest issue is that it looks pretty high in saturated fat for something
I'd treat as a snack.

------
bigdogc
20g fat (5g saturated), 27g carbs (14g sugar), 10g protein - this is merely a
trendy candybar

------
codereflection
This isn't all that different from eating chocolate ants or crickets. My pet
tarantulas absolutely love eating crickets, and anyone who is into keeping
such pets knows of very high nutritional value of crickets.

------
malbs
"a three star Michelin chef who was Head of R&D at The Fat Duck Restaurant in
England"

They must be referring to Heston right? I'm pretty sure he can make anything
taste good

------
pixie_
Not one picture of a cricket anywhere. Good idea.

------
rayj
Almonds and whey protein might be a better choice than the crickebar.

------
zszugyi
The ingredient list looks like Larabar + cricket powder.

------
HarryRotha
Im not quite sure what to say to this.

~~~
drivingmenuts
How about: Oh, hells no.

I get it: it's an experimental product that may or may not be actually
healthier and more nutrient-packed than conventional foods. It might even help
alleviate some of my health issues.

I can't look past the whole "insect" thing. Maybe a few generations down the
line, say, my grandkids kids (theoretical grandkids) may think nothing of it.
But there's too much cultural inculcation for me to ever be able to
contemplate eating or to actually eat something made from crickets.

Unless it was the zombie apocalypse and there wasn't anything else. Maybe
then. But fortunately, that's all fantasy.

~~~
sk5t
Have you considered the possibility that you might be unusually (relative to
the rest of the globe) quite squeamish? What makes cricket flour any worse
than raw fish or a nice, runny, sunny-side-up egg? Or more directly: do you
eat commercially-prepared peanut butter?

~~~
drivingmenuts
Squeamish? I'm pretty sure I'm not.

I grew up on a cattle ranch and regularly poked cow stomachs with a stick
behind our local cattle processor. As a kid, I had to go out at 4am and 30
degrees F with my grandfather to deliver a breech birth calf (didn't end
well).

I'm not afraid of most bugs (spiders a bit, tarantulas a lot, crickets not
even a smidge) but I've never had any desire to eat them.

It's cultural: Bugs are not people food.

