In his compact Parisian restaurant, Chef Laurent Veyet adds the finishing touches to one of his signature dishes. He has prepared a shortbread sablé upon which sits some apple-flavoured hummus, carrots roasted in honey and tomatoes baked with thyme.
To this, Chef Laurent adds the pièce de résistance: A few dehydrated mealworms and some whole crickets for crunch and flavour that will also marry well with the ground crickets and cheese that form the sablé base.
For classically trained chef Laurent, cooking more respectfully and more intelligently refers to the challenge of feeding a projected global population of 9 billion people by 2050, without harming the environment. And to Laurent, insects are the food of the future.
In this final episode of The Star Ingredient, we’re getting to grips with all things edible insects: How do you cook with them? What are the environmental benefits? And will Europeans ever make the leap and accept them on their dinner plates?
Hosted by Tokunbo Salako.
Written and produced by Aisling Ní Chúláin, Alice Carnevali Marta Rodríguez Martínez and Naira Davlashyan.
With original reporting by Alice Carnevali and Aisling Ní Chúláin.
The theme music is by Andy Robini.
Consultant editor: Catalina May.
Solutions journalism consultant: Michèle Foin.
Production coordinator: Louise Lehec. Editor-in-chief: Patrick Heery.
For more information on The Star Ingredient, go to our website.