At a hip Bangkok diner, foodies with an adventurous palate tuck into a bug-based menu that includes watermelon salad sprinkled in bamboo worms, nachos with silkworm cherry tomato salsa and pasta made from ground crickets.
Abundant and stacked with protein, insects have long been a favourite snack among Thai farmers. But they have often carried a negative image, perceived as "food for the poor" in a country with profound class divides.
Now bugs are creeping onto the menu of some of Bangkok's high-end restaurants as the capital's gourmands leap on the latest global food trend with a sustainable agenda.
The restaurant is located in Chang Chui -- an arty district in western Bangkok filled with vinyl record stores and local fashion designers.
With the world's population expected to hit 9.8 billion in 2050, many experts remain acutely concerned about how the world will feed itself as well as the environmental damage caused by so much meat being consumed.
Insect consumption is particularly popular in the rural northern regions, mainly due to its drought-prone climate, which has created a more varied and less fussy local palate.
For people in the central part of the country that is fertile all year long, insects are eaten more as a snack, often deep fried and served with seasoning or spicy sauce.
Their current product is a pasta made from cricket flour, which is now sold by a small number of outlets in Japan and New Zealand, but not yet Thailand.
