Milk made from black soldier fly larvae. Burgers made from mealworm. Soup made from silkworms. Flour made from crickets.

This nightmarish diet might sound like it comes from the imagination of Roald Dahl or Tim Burton. But in fact, all of these bug-related products are already consumed across the world.

An estimated two billion people regularly eat some of the more than 1,000 species of edible insects. The market for edible bugs is booming, with experts predicting it will expand in size to $6.3bn (£5.1bn) by 2030.

Consuming creepy crawlies is becoming increasingly normal even in places where it is far from traditional: research has shown that 42% of British consumers are willing to try adding them to their plates.

What is behind the bug boom? Our food drives a third of global greenhouse emissionsThe release of gases into the atmosphere that trap heat from the Sun, contributing to climate change.. As forests burn, droughts ravage populations and floods submerge cities, our diets need a revolution. Bugs could solve the problem.

Insect protein is far more climate efficient than animal protein. Crickets emit less than 0.1% of the greenhouse emissions of cows for the same amount of protein. We use 80% of the world's farmland for raising and feeding livestock, even though meat only makes up 18% of global calorie consumption.

In short, insect protein uses less carbon, less water, less land and less labour than animal protein.

Eating insects could also help to end world hunger. Insects can be farmed in almost any climate with very limited resources. They are packed with nutrients and less susceptible than many crops to changes in climate or pest damage. They reproduce rapidly and reliably.

Eating more insects is just one of the shifts that we can make towards more sustainable food systems, which a recent study predicted could yield a whopping £7.9 trillionOne thousand times bigger than a billion. in benefits per year and bring innumerable health benefits.¹

But there are a number of other options for would-be environmentalists who cannot reconcileTo restore friendly relations. themselves to a bug-based diet. You could eat more carbon-negative foods, foods which actually suck carbon out of the atmosphere. These include kelp, nuts, olives and citrus fruits.²

Or you could turn to other plants and vegetables. Research shows that a vegan diet results in 75% less climate-heating emissions, water pollution and land use than diets in which more than 100g of meat is eaten per day.³

Will we learn to adapt?

Yes: Around one quarter of the world already eats eco-friendly bugs and pests. They are nutritionally valuable, tasty and abundant. It will not be hard at all to adapt our diets to include more creepy crawlies, and many products containing insects are already on our shelves.

No: The edible insect industry is still only worth a fraction of the animal protein industry, and 2025 will not be the year this changes. It needs far more investment and far more research, and it is not glamorous or popular enough to attract this.

Or... Instead of adapting our diets to add more insects, why not just go plant-based, even if only for a few days per week? Research clearly shows that it is the single most impactful dietary change we could make for the planet. We do not resort to chomping on cockroaches just yet.