Pepsi’s CEO: Everyone Will Snack on Bugs in the Future

Photo: Fortune

Pepsico’s CEO Indra Nooyi has given her take on the future of snacking – and it involves bugs.

CNBC reported that Nooyi spoke at the New York Stock Exchange’s Net/Net event on the subject, saying that “the hottest thing is eating crickets” and that “bug-related stuff is big.”

Pepsico encompasses several food, snack, and beverage businesses, including Pepsi. They perform consumer research to help predict changes in trends annually. As consumers look for more affordable protein sources, crickets have become increasingly popular. Add that in with a shift to regular snacking, and cricket snacks seem to make sense for the future of food.

While the idea of consuming bugs may seem a little gross to some, Cricket snacks are readily available, and one company – Bitty Foods – has even started producing cookies made with cricket flour! (You can buy the flour to make your own as well).

Photo: Huffington Post

Nooyi’s company has been looking at future trends to determine that bugs would be big in the next decade. “We have different people looking at different horizons, because if you believe in the ten year horizons and what we are seeing, some of the weirdest food and beverage habits are showing up,” she said at the Net/Net Summit.

Consuming bugs in the US has typically been reserved for TV entertainment. But bugs – and especially crickets – have been considered as alternative and sustainable sources of protein by those looking towards the future of food. If Indra Nooyi’s predictions hold true, we could be seeing a lot of insect-based snacks in stores in the future.

Considering she correctly predicted consumers’ aversion to junk food a decade ago, we should be paying attention to what she’s saying about bugs.