An international group of students took part in an insect cooking masterclass at the University of Vic. The session focused on edible insects, insect-based ingredients and how these can be used in everyday recipes.
The group included Dutch students from HAN University of Applied Sciences, together with students from Portugal, Romania, Poland and Spain. This made the session interesting, because students brought different cultures, ideas and reactions to the topic of eating insects.
The masterclass started with a presentation by Raffaela Schreurs about insect awareness and the use of insects in food. She also explained different cooking techniques and showed how insect ingredients can be used in simple and creative ways.
After the presentation, the students went into the kitchen to prepare several recipes with mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) and crickets (Acheta domesticus). The recipes had been arranged beforehand and included croquettes with crickets, vegetarian burgers with mealworm flour, guacamole with crispy mealworms, chocolate cookies with mealworm flour, tacos with crickets, chocolate bark with crickets, and a yogurt dip with mealworm flour.
The practical part gave students the chance to cook, taste and work directly with insect ingredients. This helped to create an open conversation about taste, texture, presentation and how people react to insects as food.
After cooking, the students joined a brainstorming activity. In small groups, they created their own idea for a new insect-based recipe. They had to think about the name of the dish, the insect they would use, the main ingredients and how they would present it to future consumers.
As a follow-up, a short survey will be sent to the students. The survey will ask whether they would be interested in joining a future insect cooking recipe community, where young people and students can share recipes, ideas and experiences with insect protein.
The masterclass showed that cooking can be a simple and practical way to introduce edible insects. By preparing familiar recipes with insect ingredients, students could discover the topic in a more accessible and creative way.
