A mother has stated that she feeds her daughter crickets instead of traditional meat as a source of protein and that she intends to add more insects to her diet.
Tiffany Leigh is a food writer from Canada and she has insisted that her child loves eating bugs and that it is saving hundreds of dollars a month on her grocery bill.
In an essay for Insider, Tiffany revealed that she first experienced eating creepy crawlies such as tarantulas and scorpions during a visit to Asia.
The food writer was impressed with how the critters were used in dishes and she enjoyed the textures that they created.
Crickets are packed with protein and other vital vitamins. Credit: Nigel Killeen/Getty Images
So much so, that when her daughter was old enough to start eating solid food, insects were added to her diet as a cheaper way of incorporating protein.
Tiffany revealed that adding crickets to her 18-month-old daughter's diet cut her food bill down from $250-300 a week to $150-200 a week.
Traditional meats such as chicken, beef, and pork were substituted for cricket powder, cricket puff snacks, and whole-roasted crickets - though the aforementioned meats still make appearances.
Tiffany wrote: "My baby and I are both hopping (pun wholly intended) onto the cricket bandwagon. She's at the age where she's fearless and curious, so this is an opportune time to try more 'exotic' foods that aren't considered a dietary staple in North America.
"[Crickets are] a nutritional powerhouse [...] A mere two tablespoons of cricket powder provides 100 percent of the daily protein needs of a baby."
Tiffany's daughter took to the cricket puff snacks (which are much like Cheetos) well, as she devoured them, but it took her a while longer to start enjoying whole roasted crickets.
The snacks are said to have a nutty and earthy taste, similar to eating a handful of sunflower seeds.
To many of us, the crickets don't look all that appetizing and it would seem that the 18-month-old agreed as she threw them on the floor. But after Tiffany began incorporating them into other meals such as in pancake batter, her daughter came around to the idea.
Tiffany's daughter eats them mixed with other foods. Credit: Aflo Images/Getty Images
She wrote that her daughter took one bite and demanded more, and after sampling the pancakes herself she realized that you couldn't taste the bugs at all.
Tiffany now has plans to include more insects into her daughter's diet, including grasshoppers, ants, and worms.
