Bugs: It’s What’s For Dinner

Westerners aren’t quite used to the idea of eating bugs, but it’s common practice in many cultures.  In Thailand, the weaver ant is prized and the Japanese love yellow jacket wasp larvae.  Africans eat termites in many forms, including frying, steaming, sun-dried, or ground into a powder.  In fact, nearly 2000 insect species are considered edible.

One chef in Britain is welcoming insects to the menu, at Grub Kitchen.  Adam Holcroft wants to show British natives how edible and tasty insects are in a variety of forms.  Some of the dishes include bug burgers, as well as ice cream, or “bamboo fudge worm ice cream.”

The 37-year-old said: "We're treating them as a normal food item, incorporating insect protein as an ingredient but using normal flavours we're familiar with and everyday food items we recognise.”

Not every patron will want bugs, so the menu offers the usual meat-centered options.  But Grub Kitchen will cater the culinary adventuresome crowd, who is willing to step out of the crowd and add a side of grasshoppers to the dinner plate.