Chapul Blog: nutrition, recipes, and and current events for the Chapul adventurer

Dirtbag Gourmet: The Energy Bar Made From…CricketsBY BRENDAN LEONARD OCTOBER 31, 2012The energy bar aisle in most American grocery stores has a selection extensive enough to plunge anyone into the paralysis of choice, confused and asking, “What’s the difference?”Here’s one with a real difference: Chapul Bars. Their major protein source? Crickets. But you won’t be picking tiny insect legs out of your teeth after eating them — the crickets are milled down to powder, or what Chapul calls “cricket flour,” before they’re added into the bars.In 2011, founder Pat Crowley listened to a TED Talk on the environmental and health benefits of eating insects and became excited at the idea of a form of protein that could be utilized with...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A new Kickstarter project attempts to attack serious global concerns with an unusual new snack: cricket bars.Chapul, founded by college roommates Dan O'Neill of San Francisco and Pat Crowley of Salt Lake City, aims to introduce Americans slowly to the benefits of eating insects with nutritious but approachable cricket energy bars. (Think Clif Bars. But with bugs.)"Insects are environmentally friendly and extremely nutritious," Crowley told The Huffington Post. "But the largest hurdle to the industry is the psychology."Crowley, a surf and rafting guide and world explorer, had tried eating insects during his global travels. After watching Marcel Dicke's TED Talk on the benefits of an insect diet (better nutrition with a significantly lower environmental impact), he became...