Creepy crawlies turned to culinary delights on streets of Welsh capital
3rd June 2015 – Rentokil’s award-winning pop-up “Pestaurant” is hitting the streets of Cardiff today, offering a culinary experience with a creepy crawly twist.
Two years after the pest control brand first tickled the nation’s taste buds by serving curried crickets in Central London, Pestaurant’s popularity has seen the event go well and truly global. Today, on the second annual ‘Global Pestaurant Day’, Rentokil’s pest control heritage will be celebrated in 11 countries around the world, with a string of pop-ups. With the UK leg taking place in Cardiff, this is the first time a full pop-up Pestaurant has visited Wales. Last year, global Pestaurant events hosted over 20,300 visitors in locations as diverse as Washington DC, Cape Town, and Dubai, and this year visitor numbers are expected to exceed this.
Today’s event will see Rentokil take its bugs back to the ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ and give them haute cuisine treatment with the help of Andy Holcroft, founder and head chef at Grub Kitchen. Later this year, Andy will open the UK’s first permanent insect restaurant in St. David’s, West Wales, but for one day only he’s lending his expertise to Rentokil’s pop-up, with a ‘specials menu’ of cricket chocolate chip cookies and bug canapés.
These offerings will be served to visitors alongside an array of exotic treats including: salt & vinegar crickets, Mexican spice mealworms, plain roasted locusts, scorpion lollipops, chocolate covered mixed bugs and much more.
Besides serving up FREE food, a number of Rentokil experts will be on hand to dish out their expertise, answering pest questions from the public and passing on their ‘top tips’ for avoiding pest problems.
What: The Rentokil pop-up “Pestaurant”, serving cricket cookies, bug canapés and a selection of edible insects
When: 11:00 – 3:00pm Wednesday 3rd June 2015
Where: Queen Street, Cardiff, CF10 2BY
It’s worth remembering that pests can be a problem for anyone, and can affect both commercial and residential properties. Pests are just looking for food and shelter. They are not choosy when it comes to setting-up home, and even the cleanest of properties can become a target, if they can find a way in! Common UK pests include ants, bedbugs, flies, mice, pigeons, rats and wasps.
Five Foodie Facts about edible insects:
- According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects
- 100g of crickets contains just 121 calories, compared to 288 calories in the same amount of beef
- Common house crickets contain four times as much protein as the same weight of chicken
- Cattle require twelve times more feed to produce the same amount of protein as crickets
- The correct term for eating insects is ‘entomophagy’
General Public:
All members of the public are welcome.
