Fifteen years ago, I went down a rabbit hole that was mostly larvae. Specifically, Hermetia illucens, better known as Black Soldier Flies. I was obsessed. Not in the “cute pet bug” way, but in the “what if this insect could help save the world” kind of way. I read everything I could find, told anyone who would listen, and probably came uncomfortably close to trying one on toast.
Then, like most fixations that aren’t actively paying my rent, it faded into the background. The flies flew away and ruined my neighbor’s orange production. 🤷♂️
And now here they are again.
They’re buzzing through headlines as the next big thing in sustainable food systems. The BBC recently put out a piece painting them as miracle workers. They eat food waste at astonishing speed, turn it into compost and protein, and don’t demand much in return. No water. No land. No feelings about being farmed. It’s the kind of efficiency that makes engineers giddy and environmentalists hopeful.
Here’s the article if you want the sunny version:
😊 The little bug with a big appetite – BBC
But of course, it’s never that simple.
Another group, the Stray Dog Institute, offers a colder take. They argue that industrializing insect farming doesn’t magically clean up the ethics or the waste problem. Feeding bugs to livestock still props up factory farming. And food waste isn’t just a disposal issue. It’s systemic. Solving it with bugs may just be tech-washing a deeper problem.
Their article is here:
😞 Black Soldier Flies Are Not an Ideal Solution – Stray Dog Institute
So where does that leave me?
Still weirdly into these flies. Still not eating them. Still wondering if our future involves more systems thinking and fewer silver bullets. I think both articles are worth reading. The optimism and the criticism. The innovation and the discomfort. That’s usually where the real stuff lives.
What fascinates me most isn’t just the bugs. It’s the recurring pattern. We find something promising. We scale it. Then we realize scaling anything comes with trade-offs. Then we’re left to decide if the trade-offs are worth it or if we’re just trying to avoid the harder questions.
For now, I’m just glad the flies are back. And that I still care.
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