Farming and sourcing

With the rise of entomophagy has come the emergence of farms dedicated to rearing the mini-livestock. Grub supports The Border Consortium in Thailand, an organisation providing Burmese refugees with food, shelter and a source of income, of which one is a cricket-rearing project. Crickets provide the impoverished families in these camps with a tasty and nutritious ingredient as well as the opportunity to sell the surplus at market. A win-win solution.

Left: A cricket farm in Thanon Nang Klarn village in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. It’s one of many family businesses in this village where farmers rear crickets in their backyards to meet local demand. Right: Plates of fried insects, including crickets and grasshoppers, for sale at a local market in Vientiane, Laos

Rearing insects has taken off in the West, too. It makes sense: as the price of feed for traditional livestock increases, insects provide an alternative and sustainable source of income for farmers (more about that on this page). In the US, more than 100 tonnes of insects are farmed each year, although producers are struggling to satisfy increasing demand.

Cricket farming is still in its infancy and the companies turning it into a business are often learning on the job. Having opened the first dedicated cricket farm in the UK, Grub has first-hand experience of this. But it’s encouraging to see that farming techniques are constantly improving as the demand grows. Next Millennium Farms in Canada is one enterprise dedicated to the cause. In the UK, Grub works with Entovista to rear crickets and make ready-to-use cricket flour. Together with an experienced and passionate entomologist we’ve built a bespoke facility to rear a happy and healthy orchestra of crickets. As much as possible, we’ve tried to replicate their natural environment, although we’ve added our own little touches too – for example, crickets love roosting in the nooks and crannies of upturned egg cartons, so we have plenty of these. Our crickets are reared specifically for human consumption and are fed a combination of high quality grains, carrots and potatoes. And they’re kept in a very clean environment, under highly controlled environmental conditions to make sure the very best and most nutritious crickets are farmed. You should hear the noise they make, it’s incredible – just like being on a tropical holiday (but in Cumbria)!

Our farmed crickets (along with the other insects used in our recipes) can be purchased through our website at www.eatgrub.co.uk and we are able to ship worldwide. There is also a growing number of online stores that stock ready-to-eat insects, though they vary wildly in quality and we recommend using a trusted, ethical supplier.