Fancy Eating Cricket-Topped Hummus At This Bug-Based Restaurant?

By Hannah Newlon-Trujillo Last edited 7 months ago

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Last Updated 27 October 2023

Hannah Newlon-Trujillo Fancy Eating Cricket-Topped Hummus At This Bug-Based Restaurant?

A plate of crickets with hummus and crudites — Sam Clark's cricket mince topped hummus with seasonal crudites. You'd totally eat it, right?

If you've been craving cricket mince topped hummus, or cricket ragu — you're in luck!

Yum Bug — established by entomologist, Aaron Thomas, and designer Leo Taylor — is opening a pop-up cricket cafe in east London this October, rustling up small plates designed by celebrity chefs, including Sam Clark (chef-owner of Moro) and previous MasterChef Winner, James Nathan.

Two young men - one of them holding out a plate of bugs to the camera — Founders Aaron Thomas (Left) and Leo Taylor (Right) are on a mission to make crickets a big meat alternative.

While dishes like Calabrian chilli & tomato pappardelle with cricket pieces might sound gimmicky, Yum Bug is serious about the message: its crickets, they say (which are farmed in Cambridgeshire) are a sustainable and nutritious meat alternative, and can be turned into anything from snacks to strips to burgers.

"We are buzzing to see Yum Bug pop up in east London this autumn," says Leo Taylor, Yum Bug co-Founder and CEO, "The backing of some incredible chefs bring us one step closer to our mission to show people that bugs are banging — not only in taste, but also for our health and the environment."