mealworms primary school
© RTV OostPrimary school students eat a mealworm instead of meat.
As part of the Dutch Food Week campaign, a 'teaching package' was developed in cooperation with Wageningen University & Research called "Taste Mission Adventurous Proteins". This 'teaching package' involves introducing mealworms and others insects to children in primary schools to promote 'healthy' and 'sustainable' food.

News site RTV Oost reports that a primary school in the Dutch city of Zwolle started serving a mealworm and other insects to children. One of the children said "it tasted like nuts". Other types of food were also served, such as a dish made of lupin beans.

The Dutch province of Overijssel made packages available to one hundred primary schools throughout the region. Their goal is to bring about behavioral changes through unprejudiced children. The idea is that if children respond positively to this type of 'food', the consumption of insects will have a future. If it does, however, it would be to our detriment as it is meat that provides our bodies the nutrients it needs, not plant-based food or insects possibly ridden with parasites.

The following tweet shows a video of students eating mealworms at a primary school in the Dutch city of Zwolle:


In the video, the province representative who visited the school says:
"I'm sure this will become part of our food in the future. I think that in the future we will eat a lot more varied meals, eat a lot more products and that will include insects."
The narrative is that it lessens effects on (non-existent) man-made global warming and that it's a good alternative in times of possible food shortages. If the Dutch government truly cared about its citizens, it would support farmers to dampen the (upcoming) food crisis instead of cutting livestock numbers or buying farms out. It's likely that only farms which produce insects for consumption can count on the government for support, of which there are currently thirty in the Netherlands.