The following article by Andrew Partridge is from the May 1997 issue of
REAL News - Raw Energy & Alternative Lifestyle News.  Real News was created
one year ago by a group of members of the "Fruitarian Network" who were
disenchanted with the editorial policies and rigid, fruitarian line of its
editor Rene Beresford. The newsletter is a bit too oriented towards natural
hygiene for my liking, but by judging this one issue, I recommend it
highly. Other topics in the May issue are: Naturopathy, an interview with
Victoras Kulvinskas, growing vegetables in the tropics, melathion,
fluoridation and genetically engineered foods. Subscription for one year
(four issues)is 22 Australian dollars. To subscribe write to:

REAL NEWS PO BOX 8166, Cairns, Qld 4870 Australia.
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                        Animal Products in The Raw Food Diet

By Andrew Partridge

Being a raw-fooder doesn't necessarily mean you should be a strict vegan:
some animal products in the diet may be necessary for balanced health.  But
what animal products should the raw-fooder consume?

Animal Products Are Bad

A lot of raw food literature tells us that we aren't meant to consume
animal products - it is unnatural for adult humans to consume milk,
particularly the milk of other species, eggs are difficult to digest, and
meat contains an excessive amount of protein and toxins.  The arguments
that are put forward are very persuasive.

Animal Products May Be Necessary

But there is another side to the picture: strict vegans - those who consume
no animal products whatsoever - sometimes end up with vitamin B12
deficiency.  Since this can lead to irreversible neurological damage, it is
something we should be careful to avoid.
No satisfactory non-animal source of B12 is known; most so-called sources
contain only B12 analogues, which will only make a B12 deficiency worse -
see, for example, Herbert (1988), or Dagnelie et al (1991).
One could always supplement a vegan diet with B12 injections.  However,
this may not necessarily make a vegan diet satisfactory: if B12 is absent
from the vegan diet, it is quite possible that other nutrients, as yet
unidentified by science, may also be missing.  Even if B12 is the only
essential nutrient that we cannot obtain from plant sources, it suggests
that our natural diet might include some animal product.
My feeling is that if the vegan diet lacks an essential nutrient, something
must be wrong with the vegan diet.  Rather than trying to patch it up with
artificial supplements, we should simply abandon the idea of strict
veganism if we want to remain healthy.  Of course, you may still wish to be
a vegan for ethical or religious reasons, but be wary of claims that a
vegan diet is the most conducive to health.
Supposing you have accepted the need for some animal products in your diet,
what animal products are most acceptable?  Let us examine the alternatives.

Milk Products

Many Nature Cure practitioners suggest the consumption of some milk
products; goat's milk yoghurt or clabber is usually considered the most
easily digestible. I have trouble with the idea of consuming another
animal's milk - gorillas certainly don't collect milk in containers and
make yoghurt out of it, and what is special about humans that we should
have to?  Nevertheless, if, in spite of giving up the goal of being a
strict vegan, you want, on ethical or religious grounds, to remain a strict
vegetarian, this would seem to be your best choice. However, if you are
prepared to not be a strict vegetarian, there may be better options.

Cows and Sheep

You could eat beef steaks or lamb chops.  However, I don't believe these
are part of the natural human diet: these are muscle meats, and most
carnivorous animals prefer the viscera of their prey to the muscle meat.
In addition, most commercially-produced meat contains residues of the
antibiotics and other medications used to treat the animals, not to mention
the accumulated pesticides from the animals' fodder.  Even if you buy
organically-grown meat, it is usually at least a day old by the time you
eat it; this itself is unnatural, as most animals consume their prey
shortly after killing it.  Also, from an ethical stance, cows and sheep are
rather high life forms, and we might prefer not to prey on them if possible.

Seafood

Brook (1996) suggests that we eat fish to obtain our vitamin B12.  This is
an appealing option - raw fish is eaten in some cultures.  However, fish
fillets are still essentially muscle meats and are probably best avoided.
In addition, humans do not seem particularly well equipped to catch fish
without using reasonably advanced tools, so I don't feel it likely that our
species has spent a great length of time adapting to the consumption of fish.
Shellfish, such as oysters, might be a better option.  It is socially
acceptable to eat the entire animal, not just the muscle meat, raw and
live, so they are available in this form.  And they are fairly easy to
"catch".  I can imagine early humans and closely-related primates gathering
oysters and cracking them open on rocks; indeed some other primates do eat
shellfish occasionally.
I too am prepared to eat oysters from time to time, particularly when I'm
forced to dine in a restaurant, and I have found that since I overcame my
squeamishness over chewing them that they are very tasty indeed.(1)
Nevertheless, pollution of the oceans makes shellfish a somewhat
unsatisfactory option for the serious health-seeker.

Insects and Other Little Beasties

Finally, we come to insects.  Yes, insects!  Most people initially find the
idea of entomophagy (eating insects) revolting - my partner certainly
doesn't like the idea - but I think it makes some sense.  After all, many
people eat marine arthropods (crabs, lobsters and so on); terrestrial
arthropods were probably even more readily available in our natural
environment, and may be less subject to pollution.
Most primates, including those most closely related to humans, eat some
insects. Even if the animal doesn't set out specifically to eat insects,
and just eats the occasional insect that happens to be on or on the fruit
or vegetation that it is eating, that may nevertheless make a valuable
contribution to the animal's B12 intake - not to mention other trace
nutrients that we have yet to discover. Humans have only recently taken to
washing their food and spraying with pesticides - and thereby removing all
the insects - so maybe we too are adapted to the situation where we consume
the odd insect with our fruits and vegetation.
Insects have much shorter life spans than cows and sheep, so they ought to
contain less accumulated toxins.  Insects are not farmed, so the ones you
are likely to come across won't have been fed imbalanced diets ( to fatten
them up?), and they won't have been drugged with antibiotics.  Of course,
some insects may have been sprayed with pesticide, but there are ways of
avoiding those.
And we should't confine ourselves to the six-legged creatures that are
technically insects.  Slugs, snails, and earthworms are also edible (Holt,
1885)

Insect Eating by Other Cultures

Insects are common fare in a surprising number of different cultures.
Mostly they are served cooked, but some are eaten raw.
There are many references in ancient records to insect-eating.  For
example, in the Old Testament, Leviticus (11:20-23) sets out which insects
may and may not be eaten in the Mosaical diet.  Locusts, crickets and
grasshoppers are permitted; all other flying insects are forbidden.  The
Aztecs of old preferred ears of maize and corn with corn ear caterpillars
to those in perfect condition (McRae, 1994)
The Australian Aborigines consider witchetty grubs, which are the
caterpillar of the giant moth Xyleutes leucomochla Turn, a delicacy.  They
are found in the roots of Acacia bushes, and are eaten both raw and cooked.
 Lesser-known Aboriginal insect fare includes beetle larvae called bardees,
and green ants, which are mashed in water to make a refreshing drink.  In
addition, honeypot ants, and "honeybag", which is the hive of the stingless
native bees, both provided a valuable source of sugar for Central
Australian Aborigines.  The Aborigines also eat bogong moths (of Parliament
House fame); however, if you do likewise I suggest you begin with small
quantities, as people eating bogongs for the first time.
In parts of Africa, people eat termites, crickets, caterpillars, palm
weevil larvae, and grasshoppers.  Grasshoppers are eaten raw after removing
the guts.
There are some taboos about the eating of crickets and compost beetle
larvae; like grasshoppers, the guts are removed before eating (Fasoranti
and Ajiboye, 1993)
The Thais eat crickets, grasshoppers, beetle larvae and dragonflies
(Pemberton, 1995).
Bee larvae were eaten by the Welsh as recently as the 1940s, and Chinese
bee keepers, who noted for their strength and virility, often eat the
larvae raw while servicing their hives (McRae, 1994).  When eaten raw, they
apparently taste like oysters, having a sweet creamy taste.
In Ecuador the lemon ant is eaten raw, and is apparently delicious - but it
is reported to be difficult to keep it in the mouth!

Doing It Yourself

Having read the above, you may be tempted to rush out into the garden to
grab a quick snack.  However, proceed with caution, as some insects are
toxic to humans.
Typically, poisonous insects advertise their toxicity by being
brightly-colored.  In Thailand, a brightly-colored grasshopper has claimed
several lives.  Closer to home, the giant grasshopper Valange irregularis,
which infests Brisbane gardens, feeds on plants which contain toxic
alkaloids, giving it a bitter taste (McRae, 1994).  The same applies to the
large succulent beetle larvae often found among plant roots.
McRae suggests that it is best not to eat insects unless you know that
their host plants are non-toxic.  In addition, he suggest that insects be
gutted well-washed before consumption.  In particular, the tradition of
gutting grasshoppers in some cultures may be because these critters can
carry parasitic worms that can be passed to humans.
It is best to consume insects live because postmorted changes render them
unpalatable very quickly.  If you want to plan your meals, the more active
insects, like grasshoppers, can be slowed down without killing them prior
to serving by putting them in the refrigerator.
Much of the literature on entomophagy is concerned with insects as a source
of macro nutrients ( such as fasts and proteins), and most of the authors
are not raw-food aware. As a result, they suggest the consumption of
relatively large quantities of insects, often cooked - the suggested fare
includes creations like "Chocolate chirpy chip cookies", "Banana worm
bread", "Rootworm beetle dip", and "Cricket pie with vanilla icecream".
By contrast, I don't set out to eat large numbers of insects.  My aim is
merely to consume insects in the way I suspect nature intended: more as an
accident than as a deliberate act.  This enables me to benefit from any
essential micro nutrients they might be sources of.  Macro nutrients I need
are amply supplied by the plant-food part of my diet.
To this end, my policy is to only eat those insects that are living in or
on any fruit or vegetation that I am eating.  That way, I am guaranteed
that the host plant is non-toxic.  To reduce the chances of eating insects
that have been sprayed with pesticide, I try to only eat live insects that
I find living in organically-grown produce, and I avoid flying insects and
ants if I'm in an area where they could have flown or marched in from
somewhere treated with insecticide.
And no, none have bitten my tongue yet!  If you eat your insects along with
the food the insects were eating before you ate them, you probably won't
notice their taste or texture.  But if you do dare to try them on their
own, you'll find a whole new world of taste sensations.

                               References

1. Brook, Sapoty (1996). Ecoeating.   Lothian, Melbourne, Victoria. ISBN 0
85091 736 0.

2. Cherry, R.H. (1991).  "Use of insects by Australian Aborigines".
American Entomologist 32:8-13.

3. Dagnelie et al. (1991).  "Vitamin B12 from algae appears not to be
bioavailable".  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53:695.

4. Fasoranti, J.O, and Ajiboye, D.  O.(1993).  "Some edible insects of
Kwara State, Nigeria".  American Entomologist 39:113-116.

5. Herbert, V. (1988).  "Vitamin B12: plant sources, requirements, and
assay".  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 48 (3):852.

6. Holt, Vincent M. (1885).  "Why not eat insects?"  Prior Publications,
ISBN 0 94601 4124.  This edition is 1992, but the book was originally
published in 1885.

7. McRae, Tom. (1994).  "Insects in Human diet".  University of Queensland.
 Available from URL:  http://www.biologie.uni-halle.de/Zoology/eatins_1.html
Links to recipes can found on:   http://www.biologie.uni-halle.de/Zoology/eatins.html

8. Pemberton, R. W. (1995).  "Catching and eating dragonflies in Bali and
elsewhere in Asia".  American Entomologist 41:97- 102.

9. Taylor, R. L. (1975).  "Butterflies in my stomach" (or: "Insects in
Human nutrition").  Woodbridge Press Publishing Company, Santa Barbara,
California.