Diners indulge in various insects at pop-up 'pestaurant'

Grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts were on the menu Wednesday at a special pop-up "pestaurant" in Washington, D.C. It wasn't due to any kind of infestation; Occidental Grill & Seafood, right across from the White House, served up chocolate ant rounds and salt-and-vinegar crickets as part of a fundraiser for D.C. Central Kitchen, a community kitchen that helps fight hunger.

The event raised about $6,000, The Washington Post reports, with a pest-control company, Rentokil, donating $5 for anyone who tried an insect. Patrons were assured that the bugs were raised for human consumption, and not leftovers from a morning extermination.

While it's common to eat insects in some parts of the world, many diners at the event were experiencing bugs as food for the first time. One curious participant even took part in the cricket eating contest, and won a bottle of champagne. "The burgers were wonderful," David Dugard told the Post. "I'm sick of crickets for a little while, though."

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