If I had a choice between a hamburger and a bowl of crickets, I think I would know which one you would choose to eat. As disturbing as it may seem, we may not have that choice in the near future. With our annual protein consumption increasing and protein sources decreasing in Europe, coupled with a growing population, we may only have one alternative… Insects. First, for those of you who are concerned about our growing population (nine billion people in 2050), you should know that currently, there are approximately 10 quintillion edible insects on the earth right now, or 10,000,000,000. 000,000,000 insects. This is a very nutritious food. It won't be easy to change this irrational fear, but to the rest of the world we would be considered strange if we DON'T eat insects. About 80% of the world's population willingly eats insects by choice, and they are all nutritious and delicious. (Those are insects, not people). Plus, they are naturally very high in protein, which would help solve our protein drought in the near future. For example, mealworms account for around 50%, red legged locusts 75% and leaf cutter ants contain around 58% protein, they are also rich in iron and calcium which is great news for everyone fitness fanatics. But there is always bad news. : Harvesting a meal of insects from your garden to make a decent lunch is just too difficult. You would need too many to make up for your calorie intake. Our colder climate produces very few insects compared to warmer countries like Thailand and China. You're probably more likely to burn more calories hunting and digesting your lunch than you would get in return from eating it. But will we really need to get food? Of course not, the solution is simple: insect farming. It won't be... middle of paper..., Battenberg cake and lollipops. If you're still less than enthusiastic, I should tell you that while you may have eaten boiled, mixed bits of insects, you might be interested to know that there's more to a loaf of bread than wheat, flour, and yeast. In the UK, each kilo of bread flour may contain insect 'dirt' and over 1500 insect fragments. And darling? This is multi-regurgitated bee vomit. Now I know that the thought of eating a bowl of insects for lunch doesn't appeal to most in the UK. But without these changes in the future our ecosystem may not be able to sustain itself, and that is a truly disconcerting thought. While we may be quite far from this change, we need to begin the gradual progression of trying new and exotic foods to ease the country into this lifestyle. Plus, I hear they're pretty tasty.