One man’s food is another man’s fright. While the West is conniving ways to put an end to cockroaches, China is going the extra mile to breed them. In fact, cockroach farms are a thriving business in China.
It is common knowledge that the Chinese eat insects. But the foodies from the Orient consume cockroaches not because they are scrumptious, but because these winged creatures are packed with nutrients and other health benefits.
Moreover, these are cockroaches that are farmed in a healthy environment and they do not frequent the sewers like the ones we come across everyday.
In a 2010 study conducted by the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, the researchers discovered powerful antibiotic properties in the brains of cockroaches, which which would help treat multi-drug resistant bacterial infections.
According to the study, the tissues of the brain and nervous system of the cockroach can kill more than 90% of MRSA and pathogenic Escherichia coli, without harming human cells.
Liu Yusheng, a professor at the Shandong Agricultural university and the head of Shandong province’s Insect Association, said that the cockroaches are a miracle drug. “They can cure a number of ailments and they work much faster than other medicine,” Yusheng told The Telegraph.
Not only are the cockroaches consumed, but a cream made from powdered cockroaches is used in some hospitals in China and Korea to trade burns and other facial injuries, he said.
In China, people eat their cockroaches toasted, fried, sautéed, or boiled.