New research from the University of Helsinki in Finland has found substituting animal products for insect protein could reduce global warming.
Researchers modelled different diets to see which would produce the best environmental outcomes while providing high nutritional value.
They found by swapping out regular proteins, such as chicken and red meat, with insects and mycroproetin - which is a naturally occurring fungus - humans could reduce global-warming potential and water use by more than 80 per cent.
Auckland university PhD candidate Neil Birrell, who studies the use of insects as food, said the research confirmed we should be eating more insects.
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He said the concept of eating insects wasn't new for most Kiwis, as many had tried the huhu grub.
"I did a questionnaire on insect consumption within NZ recently, and we found that, of the people who responded, 50 per cent were willing to eat an insect and 59 per cent of people also had already eaten an insect in the past as well.
"Of those people who had eaten an insect in the past, 34 per cent would eat insects at least annually.
"So, there's some appetite for insects in NZ. However, there are few companies producing insects as food here."
Birrell said some restaurants were now serving insects. "They're actually really delicious," he laughed. "I'm constantly surprised. I've tried about 20 different species of insects and all have different flavours and tastes and different characteristics.
"Some are really crunchy and sort of pop in your mouth, some taste like edamame beans, some taste more like shrimps or prawns.
"There are so many different species - between 1500 and 2000 species are eaten around the world."
