‘Bug Mac’ and larva quiche food of the future?

DUTCH student Walinka van Tol inspects the worm protruding from a half-eaten chocolate praline she’s holding, steels herself with a shrug, then pops it into her mouth.

“Tasty... kind of nutty” the 20-year-old assures her companions, clutching an array of creepy crawly pastries at a seminar which forecast that larvae and locusts will invade Western menus as the price of steak and chops skyrocket.

Van Tol and about 200 other tasters were guinea pigs for a group of Dutch scientists doing groundbreaking research into insects replacing animal meat as a healthier, more environmentally friendly source of protein.