Visitors get taste of wildlife at Shropshire festival
Thousands of people got a taste of wildlife during Shropshire's second Field to Fork Festival.
About 10,000 people had the chance to crunch down on beetles and try insect bolognaise at the event at Harper Adams University today, organised by Shropshire Festivals.
Following on from a successful inaugural event last year, a combined effort from the British Ecological Society and the Royal Entomological Society saw a range of talks, activities, stalls and displays on how insects could be a source of a sustainable food solution.
Chris Jeffs, education and engagement manager at the British Ecological Society was joined by chef Chris Burt, who cooked up a range of dishes packed with edible insects including cricket cookies and insect bakoras.
"The future of food has to involve insects," said Chris.
"We're having some cricket cookies to start us off, and then insect crepes, a mince substitute of bug bolognaise – it's really hearty and has some bite to it – and we're even frying up some worms to make insect bakoras.
"We need to move past insects as a gimmicky type of food, putting a chocolate covered cricket on your plate for example.
"These can be used to make insect powder protein bars and breads, real substantial nutritious food that has a lower environmental impact than other methods. We can use these alongside traditional methods and not only will we appreciate meat more, but we'll have one of the most nutritional forms of food at our disposal."
As well as learning how glow in the dark insects help protect crops from pests and revealing an underground bumblebee hive, visitors were also able to play Wheel of Farming Misfortune to understand the challenges, such as flooding, pests and drought, that farmers face.
Youngsters also got the chance to handle a number of creepy-crawlies and learn about the environment they need to survive.
Francisca Sconce, of the Royal Entomological Society, was on hand to show them off to the public.
She said: "We've had a number of activities involving a variation of insects.
"On display we've had a live bumblebee hive which people love to look at and watch the queen and the workers buzzing about.
"We've also got two species of insects, a Madagascan cockroach and Indian stick insects, along with a craft area and some microscopes to study the friends and foes to crops and farming."
Aside from the insect eating, about 100 food and drink producers provided everything from classic festival food to homemade nut butter, and live music from the Harper University Music Society, Chasing August, Bouncing Betty, Dirty Rockin’ Scoundrels, The Endings and Two Blank Pages provided a wide range of entertainment.
Brendan Reidy, 23, of Shrewsbury, is preparing to study rural enterprise and land management at Harper Adams University and attended the festival for the first time.
"I'm surprised at the variation of activities, food and displays they have on show," he said.
"It's been a great day out and you couldn't ask for more, especially as it's free to attend – I'm looking forward to coming back next year."
Festival organisers also worked with members from the Government-funded programme, Higher Horizons Plus, to bring 900 children to the campus the day before the festival for engaging, hands-on activities in efforts to bring education on farming and food production to a wider audience.
