Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
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the next five to 10 years. Eighty percent of the planet already eats edible insects, but the U.S. and Europe are some of the few places that don't eat them." What started as an idea to sell por- table insect farms has now expanded into something bigger, and Martinez hopes she can harness that toward changing the way the current food system operates. "There's a chance for us to produce a new food system—the production of farming edible insects is very new," she says. "There's an opportunity for us to do it right, to be truly sustainable and ecological. That's one of the main reasons we're trying to do this. There's an opportunity out there for us to do some- thing right and to start something new." Putting Insects in the Mouths of Americans B ack in 2009, Monica Martinez was an architect—not a chef. The Mexico City native studied in the United States to be a designer and, even today, she still thinks of herself as more of a designer and artist who just happens to use food as material. She can't quite remember why or how she designed a Bauhaus-style, miniature mealworm farm with the idea that people could keep them in their kitchens to raise edible insects, but one idea soon led to another. After working on the portable farms for over a year, she eventually found her- self in Brooklyn, New York, with her then-boyfriend and now husband, Phil Ross. Together, they hosted a dinner where people could eat the very insects Martinez had raised using her portable farms. The dinner was a success, and led to another meal—a lunch of edible insects prepared especially for Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods" television show. "We cooked lunch for him and he asked me what's next," Martinez recalls. "Back then in 2010, there were so many food trucks, so I told him, 'A food truck.'" That quick reply led Martinez to La Cocina, a nonprofit organization located in San Francisco's Mission District that works with female entrepreneurs. After writing up a business plan and applying for the incubator program, Martinez eventually debuted Don Bugito, her very own food truck, at the San Francisco Street Food Festival in 2011. Were the more than 50,000 festival goers bugged out by her menu, which was entirely made of edible insects? Not at all, she says. In fact, she sold out. Martinez approaches cooking by developing strong f lavors and ties that remind her of Mexico. "I immediately knew that, because of my cultural relationship to Mexico, that the food had to be inspired by Mexican cuisines. Pre-Hispanic and pre-Colombian cultures were using edible insects since way before." Don Bugito's f lavors come from ingredients like blue corn, dried peppers, and vanilla, all of which meld with the insects, which Martinez makes sure are always crisp. "We toast them—no oils—and they have to be crunchy and crispy, otherwise people may have a negative experience." Still, getting people to try the bugs was sometimes a bit of a challenge. "Because this is something new, we have to educate, but people seem really open to it," she adds. About two years later, after learning she was pregnant, Martinez decided to switch from doing the food truck to creating packaged products. "We can ship them everywhere, and people can take the time to try them and share them with friends." In addition to promoting her specialty food business, Martinez hopes her products will change Americans' perceptions of what's edible or not, and contribute to greater global sustainability overall. "In Mexico, most of the edible insects are gathered from the fields; they're not farmed," she explains. "But here at Don Bugito in San Francisco, we work with local farmers and are using farm-edible insects. We're working on the sustainability and ecology of farming insects." Martinez hopes more Americans and Europeans will begin to see bugs as an alterna- tive source of protein. "I have a feeling there will be a higher demand for edible insects in Deanna Ting is managing editor of Specialty Food Magazine. ACCID AL CH F M NICA MAR IN Z Don Bugito's favors come from ingredients like blue corn, dried peppers, and vanilla, all of which meld with the insects, which Monica Martinez makes sure are always crisp. PHOTO: MONICA MARTINEZ (continued from p. 30) SPRING 2016 105