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Big Cricket: Youngstown farm feeds bugs to people
By Sarah Lehr
YOUNGSTOWN
The sound of chirping fills the basement of a South Side warehouse.
Edwards Street is home to several million crickets, which are bred, harvested and sold through Big Cricket Farms.
In the United States, most crickets are fed to pets, but Big Cricket Farms markets exclusively to humans.
Yes, Big Cricket expects people to eat bugs.
(I tried a bar made with crickets, apples, ginger and hot peppers and can report that it was delicious. A slight crunch was the only thing to hint at the presence of insects.)
The flavor of crickets varies depending on what they are fed during the last 10 days of their lives. Director of operations Jaci Ampulski said she’s experimented with feed including grains, fresh fruit and even mint.
Big Cricket opened in 2014. The company, which since has opened a second production facility in Michigan, chose Youngstown after touring several Rust Belt cities. CEO Kevin Bachhuber, who previously ran a small comic book store in Green Bay, Wis., said he “fell in love” with Youngstown’s people and architecture.
“Youngstown has such incredible energy,” he said. “We wanted to be part of the reinvigoration process.”
And the rent was cheap.
Big Cricket initially sought the speciality protein bar market, in which crickets are ground into a fine powder and masked by a plethora of other ingredients.
Now, however, most Big Cricket customers are high-end restaurants in the Northeast or California. Big Cricket sells frozen crickets, which are whole with the exception of their removed wings and legs.
“It’s the difference between selling like a sirloin, expensive steak and drying that steak and grinding it into a protein powder,” said Cody Schultz, director of research and development.
Big Cricket will be on the menu at a James Beard Foundation fundraising dinner in Minneapolis this weekend. Tickets are $250 each.
Big Cricket also made a local appearance as a taco filler at the Taste of Hubbard last weekend, and Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts on North Phelps Street sells the crunchy little bugs as a hot- dog topping.
Ampulski’s speciality is cricket pesto. Luana Correia, a recent hire at the farm, enjoys fried and salted crickets, which taste like sunflower seeds.
Though serving size varies, one-fourth cup of crickets has 50 calories, 3 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein. Crickets, and insects in general, are a high-energy, relatively sustainable food. In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released a 2013 report about the benefits of insects as a food source. The report notes that, with world population poised to hit 9 billion by 2050, there simply won’t be enough food or water to feed everyone using current farming methods.
Producing a pound of beef takes roughly 43 pounds of feed and 1,800 gallons of water, according to National Geographic. A pound of crickets takes 2 pounds of feed and 1 to 2 gallons of water, Bachhuber said.
Crickets, however, are not cheap. One pound, which contains about 1,500 crickets, sells for $40, though the per-pound price decreases for higher volumes. Customers can request wholesale price quotes for 500 pounds of crickets or more. The farm sells between 400 and 600 pounds of crickets each month, Ampulski said.
Big Cricket chose its namesake product because people associate crickets with luck, cute Disney characters and sultry summer nights. Crickets don’t seem to trigger the gag reflex in the same way that cockroaches, maggots or slugs do.
Still, the farm is open to selling other nutritious bugs, such as honey ants or meal worms, in the future. Crickets just might be America’s gateway bug.