A foodie mum who has always had an adventurous palate decided to tackle rising costs by introducing insects to her 18-month-old baby's mealtimes.
Over the course of her career, food writer Tiffany Leigh has eaten everything "from fried tarantula legs to scorpion on a stick", and very much enjoyed dining on crickets and ants during her travels in Vietnam and Thailand.
After having a baby, Tiffany, of Toronto, Canada, found her weekly food shop soar from around £147 ($250) to £177 ($300), and so decided to cut costs by mixing crickets into her young daughter's eating routine, rotating these with pricer proteins such as beef, chicken, and pork.
Tiffany now feeds her little girl cricket puff snacks, cricket protein powder, and whole roasted crickets, purchasing these from sustainable food company Entomo Farms.
According to Tiffany, her daughter has "devoured them with delight", and says she now spends a relatively thrifty £89 ($150) to £118 ($200) per week on her food shop.
In an article for Insider, Tiffany revealed that her daughter liked the cricket puff snacks, which she believes look very like Cheetos, and "didn't notice the slight textural difference."
She wasn't quite as keen on the whole roasted crickets, however, which were a little more "icky" to look at.
Tiffany recalled: "When I picked one out of the bag, I gave myself a jump scare: You could see their little heads, thoraxes, and abdomens all clustered together.
"I hate to admit it, but touching them was a little icky for me. Thankfully, I restrained my facial expressions, let her peer into the bag, and grab a cricket out for herself.
"Without hesitation, she took a bite — but promptly chucked the rest onto the floor. She shook her head and told me she wasn't interested."
The family had more success when hiding ground crickets in pancakes. Although "black flecks" were visible in the batter, the 18-month-old apparently didn't seem to mind too much about the appearance change.
Tiffany continued: "She took a big bite and clamored for more. I ate some and could understand why — you couldn't tell that crickets were in these fluffy cakes.
"The only difference was that they had a slightly nutty finish. For dinner, I sprinkled some of the powder into our mac-and-cheese sauce, tossed it with some pasta shells, and again, she couldn't taste anything different. She then made the sign for 'more' — it was a winner."
Going forward, Tiffany hopes to introduce more nutritious insects into family mealtimes, including ants, grasshoppers, and worms, which are said to be a great source of protein, iron, and zinc.
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