hard to swallow...

Anyone who has spent any time in the UK in the first half of February can't have failed to see, hear or read about the latest slice of reality television in which a group of minor 'celebrities' are abandoned in the Australian jungle and forced to get up close and personal with the local creepy crawlies.

One of the most gruelling trials the unfortunates had to undergo to earn their daily bread involved eating a selection of insects that were not only raw but still alive and kicking. On the menu were a leaf mimic, a stick insect, a type of crayfish known locally as a yabby, a witchety grub and, to finish off, a fish eye.

Far from posing a hazard to health, many of these items are considered delicacies in some parts of the world. Indeed, with its high protein and low carbohydrate content, the so-called bushtucker menu would fit in well as part of the popular Atkins diet. Witchety grubs, for example, are rich in proteins and fats and just 10 large ones would be enough to meet the daily nutritional needs of an adult.

Indeed it is though that in the late 1700s and early 1800s in the UK the poor may have regularly supplemented their meagre food supplies with slugs and caterpillars. And in fact we probably still eat a small amount of protein in insect form without even being aware of it.

But not all such creatures are innocuous. A recent case of meningitis in Australia was finally tracked down to a dinner of two raw slugs five weeks previously. Eaten for a dare, the slugs were harbouring the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, also known rather charmingly as rat lungworm, that can cause potentially fatal brain inflammation. A cantonensis is usually ingested by humans when they eat raw or undercooked molluscs or crustaceans, as well as contaminated vegetables or salad.

For Atkins aficionados the moral of this tale, therefore, is always ensure that your slug is thoroughly cooked before eating it.