Two new cookbooks integrate traditional African culinary practices into contemporary recipes that feature insects. The cookbooks are part of a project with AgriFoSe2030 and partners to expand markets for cultivated insects in Africa, and to capitalise on growing interest in insects as a “climate smart” protein source worldwide.

The cookbooks are part of a wider effort to increase the use of insects in cooking in Africa, where such centuries-old culinary practices have waned over time. The books also seek to provide practical recipes that respond to the growing worldwide interest in using insects as a source of dietary protein that is less resource-intensive than meat.

Les Délices de Mikese breaks new ground: It is believed to be the first book conceptualized and written (almost exclusively) by African women about their own culinary heritage and know-how.

Written by authors from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the cookbooks integrate traditional African knowledge about cooking with insects into contemporary recipes. The recipes either showcase the insects as the centrepiece of a dish (“edible stink bug delight”), or integrate them as a secret ingredient (“ground cricket chocolate cake”).