

For many of us, particularly in the West, the idea of eating insects might not have appealed or even occurred to us. Shows like I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, aim to make people feel squeamish at the prospect of eating insects and so some of us can feel put off.
It doesn’t have to be this way! We spoke to the founders of food startup BUG, who aim to make insect-based meal kits the norm, and help their customers to reduce their carbon footprint in the process.
5 minutes to read
BUG founders, Aaron and Leo came together by chance after individually developing a passion for eating insects. Their shared interest became a friendship, which has led to a business model that they hope will change the food industry for the better.
But why do they believe eating insects is the future of food, and how do they plan to bring edible insects to the masses?
BUG’s objective is to reduce the overall consumption of traditional meat. Aaron and Leo’s vision is for a world where insect-based meals and ingredients are available wherever meat is an option.
Did you know?
For more facts about why insects are such a nutritional and environmental powerhouse, check out this page on the BUG website.
Having experienced eating insects whilst growing up across multiple countries in Asia and other areas of the world, BUG co-founder Leo developed an early interest in edible insect cuisine. However, it wasn’t until he learned about the benefits of insects farming and nutrition that he became passionate about them as a solution to global climate change and health.
In contrast, Aaron grew up in the UK, and was always interested in studying insects (of the alive variety!) from a very young age, scrambling around in the garden inspecting everything he could find. He went into a career researching a wide range of insects for institutions such as the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and, like Leo, became passionate about edible insects after discovering their potential to create a positive impact on our planet.
BUG founders Leo (left) and Aaron (right)
Although they became interested in eating insects via two very different routes, Aaron and Leo both embarked on individual journeys to discover the health, nutritional and environmental benefits of incorporating insects into their diet. They wanted to focus on reducing meat consumption, to live a more sustainable lifestyle, and they both believed that insects could play an important part.
“BUG was founded back in 2017” explains Aaron, “but it had no clear direction or inclination to become the company it is today. Leo and I met at the end of 2018 after Leo started searching for other people in the UK that were interested in edible insects. At the time I was making edible insect recipes and burgers from my home in Norwich and posting them on social media. We scheduled a date to meet (it was much like dating at the start), went out for a meal to discuss our mutual interest, and realised that we had very similar passions and views on eating insects. Both of us really care about creating a positive impact on the planet, focusing on the nutrition of our food and experimenting with new and exciting ingredients and recipes.”
“This is what really brought us together and got us excited by creating content from Leo’s parents’ garage in the early days,” Aaron continues “trying to help educate others on what we were doing and how they too could integrate insects into their diet. It wasn’t until later 2019 or early 2020 that we actually came up with the idea for our initial product – the BUG box.”
From there, they’ve run a successful crowdfunding campaign and have new products in development for launch in Autumn 2021, to take their business, and eating insects, to the next level.
Although it’s not difficult to buy edible insects, it’s a lot harder to convince people who haven’t considered eating them before to eat a bag of grasshoppers with no prior knowledge.
Aaron and Leo set out to make things that were immediately recognisable as meals, and normalise insect-eating by removing the novelty value. People would want to buy their products to enjoy them, not to eat as a dare or to shock.
They did not want to create products or develop recipes that were gimmicky or maximised the squeamish reaction so they set out to recreate things people are familiar with.
Recipes range from burgers to risottos, muffins to puddings along with the familiar, yet more adventurous, granolas and salads. Their recipe kits give you the ingredients and confidence you need to create delicious bug-based recipes at home.
They can be stored before cooking for up to 6 months, are packed with nutritional value and are available as a subscription service or one-off delivery.
I havent tried bugs but would like to.
What I miss the most about meat is the chewiness; maybe insects can give me that.
If the taste was good, I would go for it.
What we do have tons of on our planet is insects...so I wouldn't feel that bad eating insect dishes.
I wouldn't mind eating insects - as long as I don't know I'm eating insects!
I think there is a first for everything - and if the taste is great, then why not?
BUG meal kits will be launching very soon, so if you’d like to be the first to find out when they are available, head to the BUG website to sign up for alerts.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful as well as vital support.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
This website uses 3rd parties, such as Helpshift, to provide support and Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages. Keeping these cookie enabled helps us to Ailuna and our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!