Nobody likes you, everybody hates you, go and eat a big fat worm (courtesy of primary school playgrounds, circa 1996).
Entomologist and food scientist Skye Blackburn doesn't see this direction as a taunt - to her, it's common sense.
"Mealworms are a high source of protein, they have omega oils and they have a nice crunch to them."
Ms Blackburn is making worm pie as she experiments in the commercial kitchen of the Edible Bug Shop in Western Sydney, sprinkling dried mealworms over caramel.
"The instinct that we have to draw back and think bugs are disgusting comes from conditioning, not reality - these are quite dry and taste a bit like nuts."
A mealworm banoffee pie with a cricket biscuit base. Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
The inspiration for her online store came from information; after years of studying insects and learning about their nutritional qualities, Skye was compelled to pass on her knowledge.
"It is a source of food that we will all be eating out of necessity, if not in the next couple of years then definitely in the next five, so I saw an opportunity for a business," she said.
The Edible Bug Shop was more of a novelty when it began nine years ago, with insect lollipops selling by the handful.
"We were doing things like [television show] Fear Factor and coordinating dares where people safely eat bugs... and we sold lollipops with bugs in them. But we don't do that anymore."
A shift from sweet to savoury in 2012 coincided with an appearance on Channel 10's Shark Tank, and revenue has grown ten-fold since.
Skye Blackburn has used her background in insect and food science to launch the Edible Bug Shop. Source: Supplied
Sales from the online store contribute the lion's share of half a million dollars, which has leapt from a modest $50,000 income over three years.
"In the past three years we have shifted our focus definitely to more health and nutritionally-based products and that is actually working really well for us," she said.
At around 15 dollars each, snacks are not cheap, but with mass production in her sights, Skye hopes prices can be lowered with more efficient farming processes.
"The major cost is actually the labor. So as we keep investing our profits back into the businessm we are coming up with more automated systems that allows us to keep the low carbon footprint, but reduce the number of man hours."
Dried cricket snack packs sell out weekly to consumers around Australia and wholesale demand has risen too, with 15 New South Wales restaurants ordering the unusual items.
El Topo's signature crickets are pan roasted with salt, chilli and garlic. Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
Customers of El Topo restaurant and bar in Sydney's east, are slowly catching the bug, according to Head Chef Atick Tamim.
"First they get very confused eating cricket, it is quite surprising for them to be eating cricket, but when they start eating it they have completely different feelings," he said.
Their roast cricket dish adds authentic flavour to the Mexican menu, and they're crawling, if not flying off the pass.
"We sell about a dozen a night when we have 120 covers, so that's about one in ten who will try it," Mr Tamim said.
Those customers will pay for the pleasure, but if Skye's session with the Year Five students at Widemere Public School is an indication, children might need a lot more convincing.
When asked, "Would you eat edible bugs for lunch?" a flat "no" set the tone.
Skye teaching students at Widemere Primary about future food.
However, after chewing on some bite-sized pieces of information courtesy of 'Bug Lady' Skye;
"Did you know crickets need twelve times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein, or that eating insects one day a week saves 100 thousand litres of water a year?"
Close to an hour later, they were crunching crickets - if not all with enthusiasm.
Part of the success of the online business is in its multi award-winning future food education program, which has been a savvy marketing tool for the niche products.
Skye and other educators from the Edible Bug Shop traverse New South Wales with bags of dried ants, crickets and worms, to give the next generation a taste of what is to come.
"We should be teaching our children where their food comes from, and they will be eating these bugs in five years, so we need to get them on board now and teach them about the benefits to the environment. It will be a necessity not a choice, because we won't be able to sustain how we eat now."
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