If the recent series of I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here has given you a desire to add insects to your diet, Eat Grub may be the perfect solution.
Eat Grub are a company who source and sell edible insects, as well as host pop-up events and develop delicious new insect recipes. It was founded by friends Shami Radia and Neil Whippey after they discovered a shared interest in the health benefits of eating insects. Eat Grub’s online shop sells a variety of products including roasted crickets, edible grasshoppers and insect snack bars.
To take the business to the next step, Radia and Whippey are hoping to obtain £250,000 of seed investment through a funding campaign on AngelsDen, in return for a 20 percent equity stake in the business. Eat Grub is also looking for support in accelerating growth by investing in people, marketing, products and operations.
It seems there is a real market for edible insects, with Eat Grub currently supplying wholesale to retailers including Planet Organic and Ocado. In fact, according to a 2013 report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), around 2 billion people worldwide eat insects as part of a traditional diet.
Beetles are the most commonly consumed insect, followed by caterpillars, bees, wasps, ants, grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets. All in all, more than 1,900 insect species are considered edible. According to Eat Grub, there are many benefits:
“Apart from the fact that they taste great (sometimes compared to nuts, sometimes shrimp, and sometimes nutty shrimp) they pack a real nutritional punch, and are also kind to our lovely planet.
“Crickets are commonly eaten around the world. And for good reason too: they are high in protein, calcium and iron, and turn resources into energy a lot more effectively compared to a cow…or a pig…or a chicken.”
For more information on how to get involved as one of Eat Grub’s investors, visit their campaign page here.