Eating Promiscuously by James McWilliams

Author:James McWilliams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Essays
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2017-04-12T16:00:00+00:00

“Eating Insects Detroit 2016”—as the conference was billed—was a pivotal weekend for McGill. The event actually required security detail. Some biologist with erratic emotions who had been ranting online about how certain cricket-flour manufacturers had stolen his mint-worthy ideas had registered to attend. (This guy had once contacted me about an article I’d written in a magazine about edible insects—and, indeed, I will attest: He was an extraordinary ranter). Due to the semi-unhinged nature of his social media behavior, some of which vaguely hinted at revenge, the conference host, Wayne State University, thought it best to hire some backup brass. As promised, the mad scientist showed up. And, as McGill explained, he turned out to be a total sweetheart. “He was the nicest guy you’d ever met. He came out and drank beers with us,” she said. “I think he just needed to be around people.”

“He needed a hug,” I said.

“He needed a hug,” she agreed.

Being around such people served McGill well, too. When I spoke to her about the conference (I was planning to attend it, too, but my flight was canceled and my rebooking would have put me in too late to justify the cost), she said she pretty much didn’t sleep in Detroit. Thrilled by the chance to meet so many people working in her element, enamored that every facet of this collective start-up industry was represented, and being an inherently gregarious sort of person, McGill shifted into schmooze mode. She talked and she listened and her network of contacts expanded.

The outcome was a series of connections with people more knowledgeable about what she was doing than she was. Her correspondence with these new associates made the limb she was out on feel much more secure. Or, as she now put it, “I now felt less stupid-naïve.”

Particularly notable in terms of production capacity was the connection she forged with company called Bitwater Farms. This is a fascinating tech-oriented agricultural operation dedicated to helping small farmers waste less but produce more—often with cutting-edge, niche-oriented solutions. Their online promotional brochure claims that its researchers have “cracked the code” for how farmers could grow insects—which they call “a crop”—“safely and efficiently.”28 Over a double espresso (mine) and cup of iced tea (hers) at a Paleo-themed coffee bar in Denver, McGill explained the nature of that code in preparation for us going to see it at work. (She also marketed her crickets to the owner of the Paleo coffee shop, who balked because his wife was allergic to shellfish.)

Bitwater provided McGill “a system to test.” Interestingly—and appropriately, given that McGill lives in Colorado—the system was based on indoor plant growth of, mainly, marijuana. The biggest challenge McGill faced inside her insect can was monitoring temperature and keeping humidity constant. This challenge was one that Bitwater noticed she shared with greenhouse managers, as well as pot growers, and so the Bitwater guys went to work.

Through an elegant example of technology transfer, Bitwater farms introduced McGill to square-shaped black Mylar-lined tents—again, the kind often used by advanced pot growers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.