We asked Mr. Tamura , who develops and sells the product "Cricket Miso Ramen" that uses Grilas raw materials, about his impressions of using cricket raw materials.

I was in charge of the development of "Cricket Miso Ramen" sold in Tokushima Prefecture.

Chuka Soba Tamura (Tokushima Prefecture) Manager Tamura

first encounter

The trigger for the development of cricket ramen. Actually, it was a work connection, and it was an introduction from the family of a member who works at Grilas. It was then that he proposed the development of cricket ramen.

In fact, when I went to see Mr. Grilas's website, I was surprised to find that the reason he was trying to make crickets was a sense of crisis about environmental issues. In fact, I have always had a sense of danger to the environment. Will we be able to make it with the same materials as now, and will our next generation be able to survive 10 years from now?

In such a situation, I began to wonder if there was anything I could do.

Ramen is something that people of all ages can easily come to eat, so I wanted to use ramen as an opportunity to think about environmental issues.

There is also a lineup of cricket miso ramen with a nice handwritten POP.

Impressions of using it as a raw material

While I thought crickets had less fat than chicken, pork, or fish, I felt that they had a fragrance similar to soybeans. However, if you say that eating soybeans is "very" delicious, I can't say that much. However, I decided to combine it with miso because I wanted to make the most of the cricket's aroma! The miso ramen contains sesame oil, and it went well with it.

Message to consumers

After all, the prejudice of eating insects interferes with the sense of taste. At the prototype stage, I asked the supplier to eat the prototype without saying anything, but the reply was, "It's different from usual, but it's delicious as usual." When you know .... (laughs)

I think it's a considerable hurdle to eat something you've never eaten before. It's okay if you don't know.

Through this cricket ramen, I hope to change the concept of food! The concept of eating crickets has not yet spread to the world, but they are actually "already eaten" and I would like everyone to feel that they are delicious .

For restaurants considering cricket powder

Mr. Grilas is passionate about research and has developed crickets as various ingredients. If we could make the most of crickets as a raw material with such variations, it would not be something that we would put out completely, but I think we were able to create a delicious and easy-to-approach product even for those who are trying it for the first time.

From now on, the amount of food we can eat will decrease due to the impact on the environment, so I would be happy if we could create an opportunity to think about something together by providing new products using this cricket!