They May Be Giants
Pasta made from insects .. a serious business
When the invitation to try a pasta made from insects landed in our inbox, one half of Delicious Italy said 'No way'. The other? 'What a unique opportunity'.
So I took the Metro B to Piramide and walked the rest of the way across the Tiber, through Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere and up the steepish climb along Via della Paglia to Studio 33.
An anonymous looking door opened into a spacious room furnished, at least to my eyes, like the Abbey Road studios of the late 60s. Maybe that was just suggestion bearing in mind the ‘pushing the barriers feel’ of the evening.
Francesco and Edoardo are the young founders of Small Giants, a company set up in 2021 following a start with natural wines and products made with algae. The common theme being sustainability.
Hop for the Future
They have been pioneers of this this new sector for over 10 years and, with the input of a partner from the world of communications, have been able to secure €800K of equity funding from a range of 150 investors.
Sales have not yet reached scale quite yet, but the business is profitable with a quarter of million euros of sales already visibile on the horizon.
It was then I rembered I had met them before at one of the early Maker Faires in Rome, the business networking event, under the section Agritech & Food.
Those Insects
The grilli or crickets (think author Carlo Collodi and Pinnochio) are a type called 'aketa domestica' and are reared in captivity in Vietnam. They are are canibalistic and don't require pesticides to raise them.
And, unlike meat bred for human consumption, insects also don't pass on pathogens to our species, especially if they come specialist farms.
We were also informed that up to 2 billion people on the planet have a culture and habit of eating insects and that, in any case, the grain grown for dried pasta in such places as Canada and Azerbaijan is full of insects of some sort of size and form.
Of course Small Giants realise that one of their main objectives is to lower the taboo and resistance as regards consumers, starting with keep fit/sport market.
Wondering how the raw product is prepared?
Well, the crickets are first killed by putting them into a cold lethargy before being cooked in microwave ovens. All this with formal EU permission, authorization and registration.
Less than 1% of Co2 is given off in the production process and hardly anything is thrown away. The packaging is recyclable and there is no waste whatsoever.
The Shop Shelves
Fusilli was the first pasta shape to be chosen for the product line and those of us present in Trastevere were able to try it with with a compote of mayonnaise, misticanza salad, pumpkin, strachino, tomato and caciotta cheese.
This superfood boasts 22% protein per portion with the pasta containing 15% of the raw product.
I asked if there are any more pasta shapes lined up and suggested 'farfalle' (butterfly) might just capture consumer imagination. Skillfully, they replied that such a shape doesn't cook evenly.
The company also proposes a crispy taco type snack which contains 10% of protein. Competition for fattening and greasy crisps perhaps.
All this has also led to interest by the FAO.
Of all places, London was a first test market for Small Giants. In fact, the crackers not the pasta. That honour fell to Conad in Napoli where they also sell an accompanying recipe book orientated around this supernatural and 'noble food'.
The pasta sells at €2 for 150 gr, then €3.50 for 250 gr.
So, a success story. And on the horizon? Buffalo lava. Or was that just my own suggestion.
Small Giants SRL
Via Carlo Maria Martini 1, Milano (MI),
20122, Italy