Insects may be small, but in the food market they are the next big thing. Eating farmed bugs is healthy, sustainable, and tasty. They are packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, fibers. Bugsolutely is part of this nutritional revolution, and put a main focus on using insect flours to make food products.
Founded in 2016, Bugsolutely is based in Bangkok and makes the unique, innovative Cricket Pasta, the only pasta with 20% cricket flour, and it is based in the motherland of cricket farming.
Bugsolutely is also the brand behind the first chinese snack with insect powder (silkworms), Bella Pupa.
A social, green project
Bugsolutely is not only a business, it is also a sustainable idea and an healthy one. Cricket flour is rich in proteins, vitamins and mineral elements, therefore we consider it a major enhancement for healthy food consumption.
On top of the nutritional value, crickets need little food and water (1,000 times less than cows) and they grow astonishingly quickly. Crickets require only 2 kg of feed to make 1 kg of protein, yet a cow needs 10 kg! Clearly, they convert food into protein in a much more effective way than any other farm animal.
The percentages of greenhouse gas emission from insect farming are vastly less than livestock farming which is the largest contributor to global greenhouse emissions at 18%. These are some of the reasons why the United Nations and other international institutions are pushing towards the diffusion of this food source.
A booming industry
The edible insect industry is developing quickly in the western world. The healthy characteristics of insect flours and the curiosity towards this new food are helping the growth of a large number of start-ups producing insect-based food in the USA and in Europe.
The European Union recently voted in favor of new regulations for edible insects and US, New Zealand and Australia are allowing bug based foods to be imported and sold.
Bugsolutely is one of the few companies tapping the opportunities deriving from cricket and other insects.
We’re doing it in the right place
Most of the start ups in the edible insect industry are based in USA and EU, but we believe that Thailand is the place to be. You may not know it, but Thailand was the first producer of crickets for human consumption in the world, and it is still the largest. Farming and eating insects is a tradition as old as cultivating plants here, and there are already more than 20,000 farms producing crickets as food. In Thailand, the University of Khon Kaen is an internationally recognized leader for studies and research in this field. Last but not least, the tropical temperature is perfect for cricket rearing (avoiding heating system costs and the consequent carbon footprint).
The founder
Massimo Reverberi was born in Milan, where he attended the University of Milan, Political Science, obtaining a degree in Business Management. In 1996 he co-founded Prima Pagina, a marketing agency in Milan (more than € 5 millions turnover per year from 2000 to 2010).
At the end of 2012 he sold his stakes in Prima Pagina, left Italy and spent two years exploring business opportunities in South East Asia, mostly in Thailand. He founded Bugsolutely Thailand and in 2017 Bugsolutely China, and co-founded the Asian edible insect association AFFIA.
Massimo is a regular writer on food magazines and a speaker to a number of food events around the world on the topic of edible insects.
A few notes on Bugsolutely (Brian, marketing)
A few notes on Bugsolutely (Massimo, founder)
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