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Entomophagy (/ ˌ ɛ n t ə ˈ m ɒ f ə dʒ i /, from Greek ἔντομον éntomon, 'insect', and φαγεῖν phagein, 'to eat') is the practice of eating insects. An alternative term is insectivory .
The scientific term used in anthropology, cultural studies, biology and medicine is anthropo-entomophagy. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Anthropo-entomophagy does not include the eating of arthropods other than insects such as arachnids and myriapods , which is defined as arachnophagy .
As food, also known as entomophagy, a variety of insects are collected as part of a protein rich source of nutrition for marginal communities. [1] Entomophagy had been part of traditional culture throughout Africa, though this activity has been diminishing gradually with the influx of Western culture and market economies.
The "Spanish fly", Lytta vesicatoria, has been considered to have medicinal, aphrodisiac, and other properties. Human interactions with insects include both a wide variety of uses, whether practical such as for food, textiles, and dyestuffs, or symbolic, as in art, music, and literature, and negative interactions including damage to crops and extensive efforts to control insect pests.
In the European Union, edible insects – whole or in parts, e.g., legs, wings, or heads – fall within the definition of novel food, given by the European Commission. [63] Dossiers for several insect species are currently under review by the European Food Safety Authority.
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The arthropods are a phylum of animals with jointed legs; they include the insects, arachnids such as spiders, myriapods, and crustaceans. [1] Insects play many roles in culture including their direct use as food, [2] in medicine, [3] for dyestuffs, [4] and in science, where the common fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster serves as a model organism for work in genetics and developmental biology.
Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In the past, the term insect was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. The field is also referred to as insectology in American English, while in British ...