Pestaurant brings bug-based menu back to London
Serving a free menu of pest-based items, the company hopes to raise awareness on edible insects as a way to tackle world food sustainability as well as pest problems.
The menu includes sweet chilli pigeon burgers, salt and vinegar crickets, mexican spice mealworms, plain roasted locusts, scorpion lollipops, chocolate covered mixed bugs and more.
There will also be a limited number of Early Bird Breakfast Pies featuring bamboo worms - a recipe especially created by Great British Bake-Off contestant Ruth Clemens as part of the Rentokil Pestaurant Bug-Off competition.
Food sustainability
Rentokil experts will be present at the pop-up at London’s One New Change from 11am to 3pm to discuss the food and answer any pest-related questions from diners.
Last year’s event attracted more than 3,000 Londoners wanting to sample the unusual menu, and Rentokil expects more visitors this year.
Pestaurant events have also taken place in Washington DC, Cape Town, Sydney, Dubai and Paris.
London insect dining scene
London already counts a number of restaurants serving insects, among which Archipelago - an exotic venue also featuring ostrich and kangaroo dishes; Ento - a pop-up started by four students to raise awareness on food sustainability; and Edible Shop at Selfridges’ Food Hall.
Rentokil’s top 5 foodie facts about edible insects
1. Over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects (source: UNFAO)
2. 100g of crickets contains just 121 calories, compared to 288 calories in the same amount of beef
3. Common house crickets contain four times as much protein as the same weight of chicken
4. Cattle require twelve times more feed to produce the same amount of protein as crickets
5. The correct term for eating insects is ‘entomophagy’
Twitter reactions
A quick Twitter survey showed mixed reactions to the concept:
@BigHospitality@Pestaurant I think we'd like to try some giant chocolate covered ants. #popup#trysomethingnew
— cookandwaiter (@cookandwaiter) August 20, 2014@BigHospitality@Pestaurant hmmm, depends if we were pestered enough...
— Proactive (@ProactiveChat) August 20, 2014Pestaurant Pop-Up, One New Change, London, EC4M 9AF, Thursday 21 August from 11am to 3pm.
