History
Started in the spring of 2014 by Nathan Livingston, Club Ento began with a single box of crickets and a modest vision: to eat a few bugs with friends. Nathan graduated that semester, and fellow food-enthusiast (and former vegan) Kyle Burnham agreed to keep the club going, as weird as eating bugs sounded. Upon discovering the 2013 UN report and the ecological impact of entomophagy, Kyle quickly realized the imperative of incorporating insects as a major source of protein. Club Ento took on an ecological turn and a two-food mission of increasing awareness and access, aiming to add to the re-evaluation of food production necessary for our changing planet and population. Armed with passion, statistics, and samples of cricket bars and cookies, Club Ento had several food tastings on campus and in the community, cricket cookie baking sessions, and discussions about entomophagy, quickly garnering interest from dozens of students and faculty. Our first big event was a panel held on campus, exploring crickets and the necessity of a "gateway" to changing food values, with the founders of Big Cricket Farms and Critter Bitters and several professors. Not long after, Club Ento made national news with a small article in the Education Life section of the New York Times.
Now in it’s third academic year, Club Ento dreams big: we’ll be launching our own cricket farm, cooking more insect meals, and having more all-campus events with edible insects.