Bugs on the menu at this year’s GYS

Forget the ice creams and beefburgers, this summer’s agricultural show guests will be munching on mealworms and chomping on chapulines as part of an edible bug challenge set to be staged by Harper Adams University.

At the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate on July 14-16, and at another nine agricultural shows this summer, visitors be offered a taste of various insects prepared as snacks.

Alex Hardie, marketing manager at Harper Adams, said: “Very few people know insects are an excellent, sustainable source of nutrition. Often high in protein, they’ll provide a vital food source for the planet in the future. Insects are, of course, widely consumed in other parts of the world – Europe has been slow to catch on.

“So, to help show visitors better understand the benefits of insects as a food source, we’re inviting people to sample three - small, medium and large - varieties of bugs: mealworms, chapulines and locusts.”

MSc Entomology student Katy Dainton, who is studying insects as food, added: “Humans have been eating insects for almost as long as they have been on the planet – there are more than 1,500 types of edible insect, including grasshoppers, ants, crickets, bees and wasps.

“About one third of the world population still eats insects, mainly in Latin America, Asia and Africa.”