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1 Following the success of its bug-based miso¹) seasoning, Noda Miso Syoten Limited Partnership Corp. released soy sauce created from crickets.

2 The idea for the products came after Yoshinari Noda, 36, president of Noda Miso Syoten, started giving miso-making classes around five years ago. A student asked him if he could create miso from bugs. Noda, an avid traveler who had tried insects overseas, found the bugs rich in protein, like soybeans, so using them instead of beans would make no difference.

3 In 2018, he produced miso from crickets and grasshoppers. The following year, Noda presented soup flavored with the insect miso at an event for young entrepreneurs. There, he met an official from Antcicada, a restaurant in Tokyo's Chuo Ward that is famous for its cricket ramen²). Antcicada was already considering creating soy sauce with crickets, __30__ it asked Noda to work together on the new product.

4 The two-spotted cricket, which has a "strong savory and aromatic flavor," and the house cricket, characterized by its "delicate and elegant taste," were used. These crickets were turned into powder and treated with rice malt and salt in wooden buckets at Noda Miso Syoten. No soybeans were used in the production.

5 A 100-milliliter bottle of the soy sauce uses 480 crickets and carries a price tag of 1,640 yen (\$15.67) after tax. It is relatively expensive because crickets are 10 to 20 times more costly than soybeans, according to Noda. If wider insect consumption leads to increased cricket production, the price could be lowered.

6 Eating insects has been seen as a way to resolve world hunger problems because bugs are full of nutrients and require less land and water compared with animals. "Insects are the most familiar species on Earth and make up an overwhelming proportion of living creatures both in types and numbers," Noda said. "Their potential is high as a new edible material." He continued, "The soy sauce's taste can be realized only with crickets. Soybeans may be much cheaper and easier to process, but I want to show how impressive these unknown tastes are."

7 The cricket soy sauce is available at Noda Miso Syoten and the shopping site of Antcicada at https://antcicada.shop. The company is preparing 400 bottles for release early next year.

adapted from asahi.com, 2020

noot 1 miso een sojabonenpasta die gebruikt wordt voor sauzen, bij groenten en soep

noot 2 ramen = gerecht van noedels op smaak gebracht met bouillon en miso