Some insects I found inside dried Turkish figs from Trader Joe’s
Interesting reply in the original post by Jason:> This reminds me of what I read somewhere about how, when vegetarian Indians started living in England in large numbers they would often have dietary deficiences. The story was that traditional processing left a lot of insects, and the much needed nutrients they contained, in their diets. Industrial processing of the same foods did not.> Source: “in the mid-1970s it was found that orthodox Hindus who had been quite healthy on a vegan diet in their native India began to suffer from a high incidence of metaloblastic anemia after living for some time in England consuming the same diet. The cause was traced to vitamin B-12 deficiency, which in India was prevented by insect contamination of grains.” (pp. 168-169, “An orchard invisible : a natural history of seeds” by Jonathan W. Silvertown.)