If it was socially acceptable to date bugs, people would probably never struggle to find a partner again. But the fact is, dating bugs just isn’t a well known thing.
Unless you’re Shinohara Yuta, that is.
Yuta is a Japanese entomophagist, which is the technical term for someone who eats bugs – by choice, not just when they’re trying to win stars on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Yuta creates his own insect dishes to make a living, mixing and mashing the creepy crawlies before selling them at a shop in an effort to spread the appeal of entomophagy.
Take a look at his work:
Maybe I have to give it a try before I judge, but I’m just not sold on the concept at this stage.
According to 9Gag, Yuta also organises insect-eating events in Japan, serving up a range of dishes which include a bug cocktail, insect pastries, ramen with crickets and mealworms.
I think the producers of I’m A Celeb should really get in touch with this guy; he obviously has a lot of ideas.
In an interview with Asian Boss, Yuta explained he has loved nature and insects since birth, but he kept it to himself until the age of 19 out of fear he would be bullied.
After the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation released a report detailing the benefits of eating bugs, the entomophagist decided to share his hobby with the world.
He explained the beetle larva is the worst bug he’s ever eaten, while his favourite way to eat insects is to grill them and add soy sauce. As well as eating the little creatures, Yuta’s hobbies include sleeping in his favourite tree and covering himself in leaves.
But while you might think it would be a dangerous game for someone who loves eating creepy crawlies so much to try and date one, Yuta proved otherwise.
The nature lover explained that he once dated a cockroach named Lisa, who was ‘farm-raised’ and imported from Africa. Yuta felt he could communicate with the bug, though he admitted it might have been his imagination, and added ‘no girl was as attractive as Lisa’.
The entomophagist revealed Lisa was his ‘first love’, and said he’d even thought about having sex with her. In an effort to bypass the fact the size difference would make sex with the bug impossible, Yuta ‘imagined a world where cockroaches are supersized, or I became smaller’.
He and Lisa were in a relationship for about a year, but due to the cockroach’s short lifespan the pair simply weren’t destined to grow old together.
Instead, once Lisa passed away, Yuta ‘ate her in reverence’.
He explained:
So now, Lisa lives in my heart and continues living as a part of my body.
While it’s certainly an unusual reaction to losing your girlfriend, I suppose it’s a fitting tribute from the entomophagist.
Each to their own, I suppose!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.