Traditional societies are likely to maintain the direct use of insects as food. Food security can be enhanced by the development and implementation of environmental management protocols for sustainable production, and small scale controlled insect production systems for human or livestock food should be encouraged. Research, in collaboration with the traditional owners, is still required to identify edible species, document their biology and ecology, and determine their potential uses. The intellectual property rights of traditional owners need to be recognized. The world is not uniform; it is important to value and use local diversity. Our knowledge on edible insects is based on a relatively small number of species, and if we want to document edible insects, the best place to start is with the traditional societies that actively use them.