Crickstart Food Co. is a Canadian insect food company that produces organic cricket-based food products, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec.[1]

Crickstart Food Co.
Company typePrivate
Industryfood processing, insect food
Founded2016
HeadquartersMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Key people
Daniel Novak,
Michael Badea
(Co-Founders)
Websitewww.crickstart.com
www.crickstart.ca

Company History edit

Crickstart was founded in 2016.[1] In May 2018 Crickstart launched its products in the US market while at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago.[2]

Products edit

The company produces energy and protein bars made with cricket flour.

Reception edit

In a review of the Crickstart cinnamon cardamom bar for La Presse, food reviewer Marie Allard highlighted its “quality ingredients” such as hemp, seed butters, dates, and coconut sugar, citing that the bar provides “260 calories, 16 g of fat, 10 g of sugar, and 12 g of protein.”[3]

In an article for the Globe and Mail, journalist Corey Mintz mentions Crickstart as one of the companies that are “lining up to sell insects [...] as an environmentally friendly cure-all.” However, the article argues that the "solution narrative - the marketing of insects as a panacea for health, resource and climate challenges - is misleading.”[4] However, CEO Daniel Novak explained to Mintz that “other agricultural industries are heavily automated and apply massive economies of scale… As people purchase these products, production volumes increase and new entrants come into the industry, prices will be driven down over the coming years.”[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "This Canadian food startup wants you to eat crickets. Here's why". Canadian Geographic. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Stink bug jelly beans, cricket crackers are hot at Sweets & Snacks Expo, but how do they taste?". Chicago Tribune. 23 May 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ Allard, Marie (8 March 2018). "Miam, un smoothie aux grillons !" [Yum, a cricket smoothie!] (in French). Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Why eating insects won't end world hunger". The Globe & Mail. 4 February 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

External links edit