Eating an insect may sound like a challenge from 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here', but for two experts, it's a glimpse into a standard meal in the future.
Shami Radia and Neil Whippey are co-founders of Eat Grub - a sustainable food brand that aims to revolutionise Western food culture by introducing insects as a staple part of it.
Mr Radia first discovered roasted termites while working for a water charity in Malawi.
Speaking to Mirror Online, he said: "Personally, having worked for WaterAid I saw the impact that water being diverted for agriculture and in particular livestock farming can have on whole communities.
"The fact that [insects] are unbelievably nutritious, and can taste good if cooked in the right way means that it is just a marketing challenge. How to change behaviour, that’s our challenge."
Eat Grub has produced a range of foods made using insects, including cricket protein powder, edible mealworms and grasshoppers.
Mr Radia said: "There are over 2,000 recorded species of insects that are edible to humans, but only a few are currently being farmed for human consumption.
"We focus on using these for products including crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms and buffalo worms.
"Crickets, we have found, are the most popular and I believe this is a combination of their taste, nutritional qualities (can contain up to 69% protein) and their size."
The pair also has a range of insect recipes on their website, including grasshopper stir fry, buffalo worm macaroni cheese, and chocolate cherry cricket brownies.
But Mr Radia admits that getting people to accept insects into their diets has been a real challenge.
He said: "It’s a cultural thing here in the west. Insects are commonly eaten, often as a delicacy throughout the world, and it’s only really in Europe and North America where they aren’t.
"There are a few factors for this, but mainly that the climate meant that insects weren’t in abundance and it didn’t make sense expending the energy output trying to gather them.
"However, feeling disgusted by the thought of eating insects isn't something we are born with, it's learned behaviour.
"For example, when I was young, sushi, eating raw fish, was seen as culturally unacceptable, however, only in a short space of time has it become a staple of our high street.
"We have seen that with the right marketing messages – appealing to people’s emotional thoughts rather than rational ones, we can change behaviour."
In the future, Mr Radia hopes that insects will be incorporated in our every day diets.
He added: "In one form or another, it makes total sense for us to introduce insects as part of our everyday diet.
"Whether it is in a powder form as a protein supplement that is also high in minerals and contains all nine essential amino acids, or as a tasty snack or ingredient.
"We don’t expect people to start eating insect for breakfast, lunch and dinner – but embracing them and using them instead of say prawns or beef once a week can make a huge difference in conserving our planet’s resources."
