Have you heard of the company One Hop Kitchen?
According to their Indiegogo page, they are "the world's first, best, and only" Bolognese sauce — only cricket and mealworm Bolognese sauce, that is.
While the idea of consuming a jar laden with texturized insect protein doesn’t necessarily sound appetizing — nor does it roll off the tongue — the sauces are actually in many ways similar to the staple jarred pasta sauces available at the grocers.
“Our Bolognese is based on a classic recipe that calls for vine-ripened tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, onions, garlic, carrots, and celery. Truly a classic [flavor] that would make your Nona proud... As long as you didn't tell her about the insects,” reads the Indiegogo page.
Rest assured: One Hop Kitchen isn’t just throwing mealworms and crickets into vats of otherwise vegan sauces willy-nilly; the company developed its own patent pending process which lends its texturized insects a distinctly beefy — some even say parmesan-y — flavor profile.
If the alleged inoffensive taste isn’t enough to make you trade in your tried-and-true sauce for a buggy alternative, One Hop Kitchen asks you to consider both the impressive nutritional profile of its sauces, as well as its products’ sustainability benefits.
Consider the following facts:
“We purposely structured our sauces to have 5 grams of protein per serving, which is the same as a meat-based sauce ...,” co-founder of the company Eli Cadesky told FoodNavigator-USA. “But our sauces have half the saturated fat and a third of the cholesterol” of meat sauces.
Additionally, crickets have an impactful dosage of vitamin B12 — three times as much as its meaty equivalent.
“Which is a really, really important message that resonates well with vegetarians and flexitarians because you can’t get B12 from synthetic sources. It’s only in animal proteins,” Cadesky added.
Cadesky and his brother Lee are working with several retailers on getting their product in stores; for now, you can snag 2 jars of the sauce on Indiegogo for $18 through the end of June. They are hoping to raise $25,000; as of June 16, they are 22% of the way to their goal.