If you like your snacks a little unusual and outrageously tasty, Small Giants Crackers are for you. These bite-sized savoury crackers are made with cricket flour – a super sustainable source of protein.
The founders of the new brand-with-a-purpose say these revolutionary snacks are a great way to eat insects without the yuck-factor.
Outrageously Tasty
Ideal for healthy snacking at any time of day, Small Giant Crackers are made with 15% cricket flour which brings an umami taste, a protein punch and a boost of Vitamin B12. Other ingredients are 100% natural – extra virgin olive oil and wheat flour give fibre, texture and the distinctive crunchiness. Oven-baked to perfection, they are available in three tasty flavours Turmeric & Smoked Paprika and Rosemary & Thyme both awarded 1 Star in the 2020 Great Taste Awards plus Tomato & Oregano.
The 40g packs are perfect for snacking, dipping, and sharing. The Great Taste Award judges said “Small Giant crackers have a wonderful texture and a good balance of savoury flavour…. They deliver warmth and gentle heat…. we can see them being used for many culinary uses, such as with cheese, paté, snacks or canapés.”
Massively Sustainable
Crickets offer a viable sustainable source of protein as they require a fraction of the water, land, feed and energy required to produce the equivalent protein from other sources.
Naturally Nutritious
These are seriously healthy snacks to keep your body singing. With more than 20% protein content these crunchy snacks are a natural source of complete protein containing the whole spectrum of amino acids essential to human biology. The snacks contain twice as much protein as fat, are source of fibre and high in vitamin B12 which is crucial for a healthy immune system and brain. They are dairy-free and with no added sugar.
Small Giants was founded by Edoardo Imparato and Francesco Majno who discovered their love of insects while travelling in Thailand. They want to open people’s eyes and mouths to the benefits of insect-based snacking showing people the many benefits eating insects bring to the planet and our health.
Francesco says: “Small Giant Crackers are the best way to try insects for the first time… and fall in love with them! While people are starting to understand the reasons to include edible insects in their diet, they may be put off by the yuck-factor, but once people try our revolutionary snacks they love the taste and the taboo is broken!”
He continues: “As attitudes towards edible insects are changing, we want to bring excitement, innovation and new consumers to the savoury snacks market which has seen little change in recent years. We’ve created a planet-positive insect-enriched snack that tastes great and offers a genuine alternative to those wanting to cut their consumption of animal-based foods and find an alternative source of protein.”
Small Giants Q&A
Why Eat Crickets?
We think the real question should be why not? Crickets are nutrient-dense, rich in complete protein, minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) promotes the eating of insects because, besides being highly nutritious, they have an extremely low environmental footprint. Farming insects requires only a tiny fraction of all the natural resources needed to produce traditional protein sources.
Are Crickets Really Sustainable?
Yes, crickets offer a great source of sustainable protein. They require drastically less land, water, feed and energy than traditional protein sources, such as cattle. And produce less than 0.1% of the greenhouse gases that cows produce.
Are Crickets a Healthy Food Choice?
Crickets are a complete protein source, containing all the essential amino acids – the building blocks of protein that we can only get from food. They have up to 70% protein content which is about two to three times higher than red meat. Compare that to some other traditional source of protein – chicken breast has 31%, salmon 20%, boiled soybean 17%. Crickets are also a source of vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and fibre and so they’re ideal for a balanced diet. Vitamin B12 is fundamental for your immune system to thrive and crickets have more than 100% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin B12 per serve. They also contain as much calcium as milk, making them the perfect non-dairy source of calcium.
How and Where Do You Farm Your Crickets?
Eating insects is nothing new in many parts of the world. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that insects are part of the regular diet of roughly two billion people globally. Edible insects have long been a part of Thailand’s traditional cuisine, so it’s not surprising that insect farming is wide spread there. Crickets also need high temperatures (ideally 30°C) to live and Thailand’s climate provides the ideal conditions.
We source our cricket powder from a British professional supplier that is the only BRC certified cricket powder supplier worldwide. Its crickets are guaranteed for human consumption and farmed in Thailand. The farming of crickets and all the steps involved in the production take place in a controlled environment in order to obtain the best quality flours. Crickets are used to living in dense conditions, can be farmed vertically, and can be reared on bio-waste transforming it into high-quality protein.
What Is the UK’s Appetite for Crickets?
According to a 2018 Sainsbury’s report: One in five shoppers said they can see the advantages of eating edible insects, particularly as an alternative protein source (25%) as well as for the health and nutritional benefits (15%). Attitudes towards edible insects are changing too, with almost 10% of consumers having already tried edible insects, and 57% saying they enjoyed them. Over four in 10 (42%) said they would be willing to try insects in the future, while one in eight said they have yet to try edible insects because they haven’t had the chance or don’t know where to buy them.
The forecasts for insect-based food products are promising, the market is expected to grow rapidly in the next few years reaching 260,000 tonnes by 2030 with 42% of Brits saying they are willing to try insects.
Small Giants Crackers are available in selected local shops and online via eatsmallgiants.com and on Amazon.