Rona Dougall: Insects on our menu offer some serious food for thought

Forget about turkey, sprouts, roast potatoes and all the delicious trimmings, in the future we may well all be tucking into a big plate of insects for Christmas dinner. Scientists at Scotland’s Rural College, a prestigious research centre, are calling for restrictions to be lifted on the sale of whole insects in the UK.

They’ve been part of people’s diets in Asia, Africa and South America for centuries but we’re squeamish about the prospect of eating bugs and grubs here. They’re seen as an exotic novelty food. Look at the fuss they make on the TV reality show I’m A Celebrity when they have to eat various unfortunate creepy crawlies.

So why the call to arms to get us all eating insects? Well, they’ve being hailed as a concentrated source of proteins, which are crucial to our health. The world population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by the middle of the century. How on earth are we going to feed everyone?

Environmental challenges to feed that many people will only become more pressing. The UN estimates that global food production must double. If we continue only growing crops and rearing animals we will put too much pressure on our already vulnerable planet. We need to change the way we eat. Hence the insects.

More than 1,000 kinds are munched around the world. Fried wasps apparently make a tasty snack and locusts are supposed to be especially calcium-rich. But it’s hard to see how this will catch on in Scotland, where a deep-fried Mars Bar is still spotted on the odd chippie’s menu. I’m joking, of course, we have an enviable reputation for amazing chefs and restaurants.

But I do think we’ve become a bit precious about our food. We can’t escape cooking programmes like MasterChef, where contestants produce dishes like pork belly with chargrilled peach salsa, monkfish with kohlrabi, cauliflower and dates, or Korean lava wraps. I watch the battle of the amateur cooks occasionally as I tuck into my beans on toast, and idly wonder how people can go to all the bother of making a jus or coulis when so many tasty condiments like ketchup are available.

A friend of mine is a committed gourmand. She loves nothing more than noshing in Michelin star restaurants and all that carry on. And she regularly travels abroad to try new places. She even made a pilgrimage a few years ago to the world’s best restaurant. Hilariously, although I’m sure she didn’t think so, whilst she was en route the new listing came out and the fabulous eaterie had slipped down the list.

I’m not a good cook. A Belgian “friend” of mine used to joke that you knew when dinner was ready in my house because you heard the microwave ping. I don’t have the patience or will required to follow complicated recipes.

Now that my children are independent I don’t have to bother producing nutritious meals every evening. It is so freeing.

My husband as a result has become very handy in the kitchen. It is his domain now and he’s very welcome to it.

My youngest daughter looks like she’ll follow in his footsteps and recently went on an intensive two-week cookery course, where she produced some fabulous dishes. We’ve yet to taste the fruits of her newly found skill, but I’m hopeful she’ll now be able to fend for herself. And not just resort to crisps and chocolate biscuits. Although, hang on, chocolate covered crickets, that could really catch on.