147: Could insect protein be the next sports nutrition craze?
With the active lifestyle and sports nutrition markets growing exponentially, how will this group of consumers meet their dietary needs sustainably in the future? Insect cultivation uses a fraction of the land, energy and water required for traditional farming, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint. Crickets produce up to 80% less methane than cows and 8-12 times less ammonia than pigs, for example. Could insect protein be the sustainable solution for the climate-conscious active lifestyle consumer? Our guests on this episode of the Table Talk Podcast both think so. We're joined by Tim Boote, Founder, Protein Rebel and Antoine Hubert, Chairman & CEO, Ÿnsect, to hear how insects offer an alternative, sustainable source that is less impactful when compared to meat and dairy and offers a protein and vitamin-rich punch. Join the conversation on Table Talk. About our panel Tim Boote, Founder, Protein Rebel Tim is the founder of clean and sustainable sports nutrition brand, Protein Rebel. Launched in August 2020, Protein Rebel focuses on natural ingredients and new types of proteins for endurance athletes and active lifestylers. The company uses plants and crickets as ingredients to help improve performance whilst reducing our impact on the planet. Tim’s background is in interim marketing for FMCG companies. He's worked for a number of organisations including PZ Cussons, Kellogg and Nandos Grocery. In 2019, Tim conceived the idea of Protein Rebel and started working on the business full-time. Tim has a keen interest in healthy eating and enjoys running and cycling. A few years' ago, he became increasingly aware of what he was putting into his body and the effect it was having on his performance and the planet. Searching for sports nutrition products, he struggled to find any with clean ingredients and which focused on sustainability. It was then he recalled the time he ate insects in Africa and how nutritious and sustainable they were. With some additional research it became clear that insects, especially crickets, are a superfood built for athletes. The first Protein Rebel product was soon born - a cricket and pea protein powder to support strength training goals. Antoine Hubert, Chairman & CEO, Ÿnsect Antoine is Ÿnsect’s Chairman and CEO. He also leads the cooperative insect industry association, the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF) and is Board Member of Protéine France consortium and LFD. Prior to co-founding Ÿnsect, Antoine worked on scientific projects in environmental risk assessment, biomass and plastics recycling. He is an agronomy engineer graduate from AgroCampus-Ouest and AgroParisTech. Together with Alexis, he co-founded NPO WORGAMIC and the company ORGANEO.