In recent years, we've seen makers in Japan begin to turn to crickets as a nutritionally efficient and less environmentally demanding protein source. While those who haven't dived fully into the cricket boom yet might feel a little apprehensive, with cricket vending machines, MUJI's cricket crackers, and cricket-loaded ramen, it seems there's quite a few different ways now to give the buggy dish a whirl.

Entomophagy brand bugoom is adding to those options with what they are calling Japan's first ever insect instant noodles, releasing an instant udon noodle cup that makes use of about 100 crickets!

The product is currently topping daily ranking at bugroom's online shop, so the buggy noodles appear to have a following. The instant udon contains roughly 100 crickets that have been kneaded carefully into the cup's udon noodles, resulting in a protein content of about approximately 22.9 grams per serving.

bugroom says the kneading process was done so that people could enjoy the udon without being upset by the aesthetic of the crickets in case they were sensitive to it, and that the noodles are made with a powder that has been processed so that the hard exoskeleton of the insects doesn't add any interfering texture and allows for smoother udon and slurping.

The soup is made with flavorful ingredients such as bonito, mackerel, shiitake mushrooms, and kelp, giving it a taste that is quite familiar to udon lovers.

Cricket Udon is available from bugroom's online store currently, priced at 810 yen.