Does the idea of eating bugs freak you out?

You’re not alone in the good ol’ U.S.A… but across the world it’s no biggie.

The U.N. is basically begging people to give it a try, and cited earlier this year that over 2 billion people already engage in the sustainable practice.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that last week a group of students from McGill University got a huge endorsement to feed the world with the protein packed creepy crawlies. It came in the form of the Hult Prize, a $1,000,000 start-up that goes to university students with the best idea for a social enterprise.

First, the group will take their business model to Mexico, where grasshoppers are harvested by hand in rural areas. Since grasshoppers are traditionally available to harvest for only a few months out of the year, the start-up, called Aspire, will sell affordable cricket-farming kits that the group claims will be able to produce 11 pounds of crickets every two months.

The hope is that rural and semi-rural farmers will use the kits to produce grasshoppers and then sell the yields back to Aspire, which will then find processors and distributors to bring the food source to the slums of Mexico City and other major cities.

Mohammad Ashour, group leader, explained the next step for Aspire.

In our first year, we’ll be launching in Mexico — which is home to Neza-Chalco-Itza, the world’s largest slum. We’ve already found a distribution partner there and farmers who are ready to go.

The most controversial part of the plan includes the creation of insect enriched flour to add a boost of protein and iron to the diet of malnourished populations. Zev Thompson, a member of the team pictured above, described the idea.

We’re proposing a factory to grind cricket-flour with corn, wheat, or rice, whatever is local, and then creating very normal looking food that has an additional boost to it.

The team hopes to expand and adapt this model to fit diets across the world including palm weevils in Ghana or caterpillars in Botswana.

 The local Montrealers even tried some of the squirmy delights for themselves. Apparently, the team “tried everything from worms to water beetles.”

  This comes as no surprise since Hult Prize partner and former President Bill Clinton made health a major talking point at his annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting. For more information on competing for next year’s prize click here.

What do you think of the McGill team’s model? Would you use cricket-enriched flour to give Grandma’s famous cookies that extra nutritious boost?