I was quite surprised when I discovered that the popular phone app Lifesum just decided to add insects to the menu. I would expect some other lesser known app to add something as controversial as insects to their extensive list of recipes. But this is an app that I and other people I know have used and loved for a while now. Insects are starting to enter our American lives in a much more personal way with the introduction of insects to Lifesum. We’ve been pretty hesitant to really entertain actually including insects in our diet up until now, but with the way the technology we count on is evolving and changing so rapidly, we may not be able to look away for much longer. Lifesum is literally bringing bugs onto your phone and possibly even into your life.
Lifesum is one of the best apps for maintaining a healthy lifestyle that I have personally used. And I’m not the only one that thinks so. WIRED included the five year old Swedish startup in their list of Stockholm’s 10 hottest in 2017, and most of its users are based in the United States. It is the most popular food and calorie counter in most of Europe as well as over here in the U.S. The app actually has an artificially intelligent image recognition tool that allows you to simply snap a picture of the meal you are eating, and the app automatically recognizes the ingredients and the amount, and adds it to your daily record without you having to even think about figuring out how many calories are in a few potato chips.
The creators of the Lifesum app focus more on nutrition and also consider how what we eat affects the environment around us. So, adding more ecologically friendly insects to the menu was the next logical step in improving their program. They are working with Entomo Farms, the largest edible insect producer in the country, to ensure the app has the data to calculate exactly how many calories, protein, fat, and fiber (among other factors) its users are consuming when they try adding a bit of insects to the menu. You can now find insects like crickets, mealworms, and grasshoppers on the Lifesum app, and try out one of their tasty recipes like the grasshopper tacos. Yummm!
Do you or someone you know use or have heard of Lifesum? Would you try out one of their insect recipes?