Local entrepreneurs to unveil new beetle based cookie on Sunday

PALMER — There’s a new kind of cookie coming to the Valley, the Manna Cookie by Manna Foods. These health conscience treats are free from gluten, lactose and soy.

They’re also made with an extra special ingredient — beetles.

“We just want to get the word out there,” Manna Foods founder Luke Wright said.

These cookies were designed to taste good, supplement consumers’ health and benefit the environment by using fewer resources than more conventional means. Manna Foods is hosting a launch party Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Palmer Train Depot to give the public the chance to try the cookies and offer their feedback.

Manna Cookies are made with flour comprised of Darkling beetles. This concept may sound strange at first, but it’s actually more common than you think, according to Wright. He said that most of the world utilizes insects in their daily eating habits and it’s only western civilizations like Europe and North America that are out of the loop.

In fact, the reverse can be said about milk consumption. Wright said that most of the world is actually lactose intolerant because unlike most western countries, the people did not grow up drinking cow’s milk.

“To them, we’re the weird ones,” Wright said with a laugh.

About 65 percent of the human population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy, whereas only some five percent of people of Northern European decent are lactose intolerant, according to data from the National Institutes of Health.

Wright said he thoroughly enjoys traveling the world learning about different cultures. After visiting places like the Netherlands, China and Thailand from 2016 to 2017, he got the idea of starting his own food company, one that’s environmentally and economically sustainable while being packed with protein. He said that he felt a, “call to action.”

“I think the best way to solve problems is through entrepreneurship. It’s just literally creating value in a way that’s not just about profit and making money. It’s about making a difference for the intangible aspect of capitalism,” Wright said.

Wright began farming crickets and Darkling beetles in early 2018 and ultimately favored the beetles for their higher protein yield.

“It’s super dense with protein,” Wright said.

Wright said that westerners tend to have a strong “repulse factor” when it comes to eating insects so he decided to make Manna Food’s first product a dessert to help mask the flavor, starting with one of the most popular and recognizable treats of all time.

“Choosing a cookie’s great because it’s a dessert food. So, if you have to appeal to a large amount of people, the easiest way to do that would be through one of the tastiest foods we have, which is a cookie,” Wright said.

Wright’s childhood friend Eli Fouch joined the team in 2018, helping Wright farm the crickets and beetles. The crickets will soon be phased out, giving way to the rein of the beetles.

Wright said that it takes about 45 days from hatch to harvest. He said it takes about 9,000 beetles to make one pound of flour. The insects are flash frozen, roasted and ground into a fine powder.

“They kind of raise themselves,” Wright said.

Kyle Fox joined this year, helping with marketing. He said they’ve tried out numerous recipes, using ingredients like a mint and cocoa to help overpower the insect flavor. He said that inherently, there is no negative taste to insects. Wright said they have a nutty flavor to them.

“They just taste different,” Fox said.

Fox said that he’s ensuring the final product is appealing and professional as possible, working to make the idea of eating beetles more attractive. He said that one of his main missions is making sure the packaging is up to par.

“This thing tastes pretty darn good for what it is,” Fox said.

Fox said they tested out their cookies during Colony Days and they were met with positive results. He said that he initially thought the target demographic would be “fitness freaks” but there’s a large population of people that seek out healthy options, especially if it’s free of things like gluten and lactose. This trend for healthy, locally sources foods is only going to continue, he said.

“We realized the market is huge… It was a great testing ground,” Fox said.

Wright said that he’s spent several years installing solar panels in Palmer with his company Solar North. He said that this new chapter in his life feels fitting.

“So sustainability and efficiency with resources is kind of what I’ve been doing for a while so it was right up my avenue to do something like this. It’s just about making the most impact, I think. And food, obviously everybody eats every day so the food industry is really, really important. How it’s made alters global politics, religion, it’s infused in everything,” Wright said.

The launch party is also the day their Kickstarter Campaign goes online. They’re hoping to raise $10,000 goal within a 30-day campaign. Wright grew up in Palmer. He ultimately aims to sell their products nationally.

“We’ve got the road map… Palmer’s a great start,” Wright said.

For more information, visit: mannafoods.org

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com