The Bug-Eating Movement Is Coming for Your Milkshakes

It’s been two years since the United Nations urged the world to eat more bugs. They’re plentiful, nutritious, and potentially less destructive to cultivate than livestock. Millions of people around the world already eat insects as part of a healthy diet—now if only Westerners could overcome their learned disgust and get on board. Maybe loading them into junk food is the key?

This summer, the bug-eating cause will get help from an unlikely quarter: an American burger joint. Wayback Burgers, a Connecticut-based fast-casual chain, is launching an Oreo mud pie milkshake made with cricket protein. The insects are ground up and flavored with chocolate before they’re added to the mix, so you don’t have to see the legs, shells, or beady little eyes that might activate your gag reflex. A regular 22-ounce cricket milkshake packs 20 grams of protein—about the same as a scoop of whey powder, and only slightly grosser.