that nutritional programs in the future should recognize this fact. In a broader
context, he concluded that the predicted world protein shortage could be ameliorated by using insect protein, but that an education program would be necessary
"to overcome the taboos currently held in the West." Mercer, formerly Senior
Lecturer in Entomology at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology'
in Lae, further commented (82): "The majority of my students are keen consumers of a whole range of insects when they return to their villages during
vacation time. I have come to the conclusion that it is the West which is out of
step in its aversion to insects as food.