Scientists at a New York university have developed a new way to make tofu from mashed up worms, making it completely un-vegan but providing hope for a highly sustainable futuristic food.
It takes 10,000 mealworms to produce a pound of "C-fu", which could form a part of sustainable food production for the Earth's rapidly growing population.
Mealworms are high in protein and omega fatty acids, and take up less space, produce less harmful gas and eat less food than traditionally reared animals such as pigs and cows.
"It tastes okay."
"C-fu is not a just a single product. It’s a versatile food ingredient that can be reprocessed into hundreds of different and new foods," team leader Lee Cadesky told the Cornell Daily Sun.
"When we made it with crickets, it tasted awful. We went to superworms for a while and they tasted even worse, and then we went to mealworms and they tasted okay."
The C-fu contains more protein than regular tofu, and human guinea pigs at the university describe it as "nutty", "bready" and "eggy".
The team will present their product at Thought For Food next month, where they will compete for $10,000 of funding.
If they succeed, mealworm tofu could be coming to a supermarket near you, so get your recipes ready. C-fu can be fried, boiled, baked, dipped, grilled, fermented, salted or dried.
