WOULD YOU LIKE to try a new snack? Apparently insects are a valuable source of food.

The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organisation says people need to get their heads around eating insects as many are rich in protein, zinc, calcium and iron whilst also being low in fat.

It reckons that they’re an ideal solution for the world’s rapidly growing population.

Europe is the only continent that doesn’t eat insects but maybe we’re missing out…

Not convinced yet?

Brave journalist here at TheJournal.ie Nicky Ryan tried out the little creatures to show you just how much fun it can be…

See that’s not so scary. Over two billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects so they can’t all be wrong.

Here are some great reasons to get stuck in:

• 100g of crickets contains just 121 calories, compared to 288 calories in the same amount of beef
• Common house crickets contain four times as much protein as the same weight of chicken
• Cattle require twelve times more feed to produce the same amount of protein as crickets
• Many insects contain substantial levels of macro-minerals such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride
• They are good sources of the trace minerals of iron, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium
• They also have a high ‘feed conversion rate’, meaning that they can be farmed using relatively little land, water and energy compared to livestock.

Pestaurant 

Are you feeling a bit more open minded now? Well here’s your chance to entomophagy (the correct term for eating insects, don’t you know.)

Ireland’s first ‘pop-up pestaurant’ will open this Sunday at Muckross Road, Killarney, Kerry.

Rentokil will be serving up an array of exotic cuisine including edible insects such as salted weaver ants, BBQ mole crickets and chocolate-dipped worms.

The pest control company says “it’s all to celebrate the hard work that goes into keeping Irish pests under control”.

Pestaurant Menu in full:

Drumroll please! 

Savoury:

• Plain roasted locusts
• Plain roasted mealworms
• Plain roasted crickets
• Mexican spice mealworms
• Curry crickets

Sweet

• Chocolate-covered mixed bugs
• Chocolate bug bars
• Scorpion lollipops (assorted flavours)
• Mealworm lollipops (assorted flavours)
• Cricket lollipops (assorted flavours)
• Ant candy (Cherry flavour)
• Ant candy (Apple flavours)

Read: UN says people need to get their heads around eating insects>

Read: The secret to making tarantula taste good? Batter it>

Read: Live insects, glass… and a human tooth in a takeaway — a busy year for the food safety hotline>

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