Starting in the 1930s, LEGO’s founder Ole Kirk Christiansen had created toys using wood and other materials. When a fire in 1960  41  the company’s warehouse containing wooden toys, Christiansen decided to concentrate all efforts on one single product: the plastic LEGO brick. LEGO bricks are not associated with  42 , sex, political viewpoints, or controversial topics, and the company has deliberately sought to develop a “safe” image.  43 , during the last decades this image of LEGO has also come to present a problem, because children increasingly  44  more teenage-like leisure activities, influenced by adult topics circulating in the media. For the growing generation of “tween”-agers, this safe image could easily be synonymous with “  45 .”

        A recent report authored by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization argues that overcoming our squeamishness about eating bugs may make the crucial  40  in overcoming global hunger.

        In terms of nutrition, insects provide an outstanding  41 , having “high fat, protein, fiber, vitamin, and mineral content.” Insects, it turns out, are far more efficient than livestock in transforming feed into edible meat. And they largely avoid the huge greenhouse gas emissions, as well as other environmental pollutants, associated with cows and pigs.

        Based on a dietary estimation, the world needs to double its food production over the next 40 years – an effort that will require unprecedented productivity gains while  42  ecological disasters.

        Most of today’s insect-eaters live in the developing world, in countries where insects are perceived as a perfectly acceptable and convenient source of energy: seasonably  43 , highly portable, and requiring fewer inputs than agriculture or animal husbandry. While most edible insects continue to be collected in the wild, more organized forms of insect farming have  44 , including “cricket farming” in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. By providing employment opportunities, the edible insect sector helps to develop the economy, from Southeast Asia to Central Africa.