Looks Beautiful And Appetizing, This Dish Is Made Of Unusual Ingredients

JAKARTA - Want to try a classy French dish, rich in nutrition but made from unusual ingredients? Inoveat in Paris, France the right place.

The cool hands, creativity and love of Chef Laurent Veyet for culinary, are able to present a delicious menu with an attractive appearance, but in the ear it sounds dubious and maybe even disgusting for some people.

There's shrimp salad with yellow mealworms, crunchy insects with vegetables to locusts covered in chocolate. All guaranteed delicious and nutritious, but, dare to try?

Sunbathing on the terrace of an outdoor restaurant in Paris, Veyet's carved dishes win nods and murmurs of satisfaction from his adventurous clientele.

"It's an ideal dish for beginners," Veyet said as he prepared a pasta dish made with flour, sweet potatoes and stir-fried insect larvae.

"There are some very interesting flavors. Not many people can say they don't like it."

Veyet grows their caterpillars on site, providing them with wheat porridge and vegetables. Although mealworms may look like unappetizing maggots, they are actually dark beetle larvae, which are rich in protein, fat and fiber.

For Veyet, there are two challenges he faces when choosing to present unusual cuisine. First, winning public opinion, second, learning how to match the taste of insects with other foods.

"You have to find the right taste, the right accompaniment. All that's interesting, any chef will tell you the same thing," he said.

As a versatile ingredient, mealworms can be used whole in curries or salads, or ground to make flour for pasta, biscuits, or bread.

"Insects are nutritious," said Stefan De Keersmaecker, spokesman for health and food safety at the European Commission.

"They can really help us shift to healthier, more sustainable diets and food systems."

Separately, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in January deemed the mealworms fit for human consumption. And last May, they approved its sale on the market. The agency has fielded more than a dozen other applications for insect-based food products, including crickets and grasshoppers.

To note, mealworms and insects in general, can offer a sustainable and low-carbon food source for the future.