• Shivani Sharma
• Najitha Banu

Abstract: “Food is medicine” was originally said by Hippocrates, the father of western medicine. He said almost 2500 years ago,” Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can cure the patient with food.” Yet, diet cannot substitute medicine, although many illnesses can be prevented and cured with it. Therefore, the food we eat should be selected sensibly. In the world, approximately 900 thousand diverse kinds of insects are known, which signifies that approximately 80% of the world species consists of insects. Insects are both Friend and Foe to humans. India’s food and agriculture organization (FAO) warns of a universal famine in fifty years and scientists have begun to do experimentation with an alternate source of protein i.e. insects. In the 2013 report, FAO presents insects as a viable replacement for meat in the event of food shortage over the next century because of their high nutritional value that can match that of others (More commonly unconsumed kinds of meat). In African countries, children with malnutrition are given the flour made from dried caterpillars for eating to cure malnutrition. Pregnant and nursing women and anaemic people eat caterpillars because they are rich in calcium, protein and iron. Over fifteen thousand species of edible insects have been recorded in 300 ethnic groups from 113 countries. India is one of these recorded countries. In certain tribes and ethnic groups of Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra it is a common practice to consume edible insects. Therefore, there is a need to encourage studying about the edible insects and therapeutically important insects as it leads to potential secondary economic effects which help the developing countries such as India to develop ways through which it can use its abundant natural resources sustainably. It is necessary to study and promote the consumption of insects as it is already practiced in many parts of India.

Keywords: Entomophagy, Edible Insects, Nutrition, Ethnic Group, Sustainable.

"Entomophagy Diversity in India a Review", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.368-374, January 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDW06059.pdf

"Entomophagy Diversity in India a Review", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp368-374, January 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDW06059.pdf