New research out of the University of Helsinki has found substituting animal products for insect protein could reduce global warming.
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Researchers modelled different diets to see which would produce the best environmental outcomes while providing high nutrition value.
They found by swapping out regular proteins, such as chicken and red meat, with insects and mycroproetin - which is a naturally occurring fungus - humans could reduce global warming potential and water use by over 80 percent.
Auckland university PhD candidate Neil Birrell, who researches the use of insects as food, said the new research confirms we should be eating more insects.
He said the concept of eating insects isn't new for most New Zealanders, as many have tried the huhu grub.
"I did a questionnaire on insect consumption within New Zealand recently, and we found that of the people who responded, 50 percent were willing to eat an insect and 59 percent of people also had already eaten an insect in the past as well.
"Of those people that had eaten an insect in the past, 34 percent of people would eat insects at least annually.
"So, there's some appetite for insects in New Zealand, however, there are few companies producing insects as food here.
"I don't know whether, necessarily, people are replacing their diet already with these insects. It might just be more of a novelty factor that they're trying them."
Birrell said some restaurants around the country are now serving diners insects, which shows more people are open to trying them.
"They're actually really delicious," he laughed.
"I'm constantly surprised. I've tried about 20 different species of insects and all have different flavours and tastes and different characteristics.
"Some are really crunchy and sort of pop in your mouth, some taste like edamame beans, some taste more like shrimps or prawns.
"There's so many different species - there's between 1500 and 2000 species of insects eaten around the world."