Bake your meat, grind it to a pulp, fry for a few minutes then serve with garnish in a sesame seed bun. Is it a Whopper? No, it's a wormburger. And believe it or not, according to insect expert George McGavin, it's actually better for you than the fast-food equivalent, writes REG LITTLE.

Dr McGavin, a zoology lecturer at Jesus College, is no stranger to odd food. His liking for creepy-crawlies extends to frying them in olive oil and washing them down with a nice glass of chilled Chardonnay. He told the Oxford Mail: "Before you say 'Ugh', think about it. Earthworms are 80 per cent meat and there are plenty of them around. Weight for weight, the nutritional value of insects, and earthworms come to that, is certainly higher than your average fast-food burger."

He added: "Tastes shouldn't be taken too seriously, as they can always be improved if you use the right ingredients. What would a prawn taste like if we didn't smother it with ginger and garlic? It's all a matter of getting the recipe right." Dr McGavin, who is also assistant curator of entomology at the University's natural history museum, revealed that he first nibbled bugs in Papua New Guinea and has eaten them for years without any ill-effect.

But the revelations have left colleagues fearing for his museum collection. Former curator Brian Atkins, who retired last year said the museum's top quality insect collection might be putting temptation under Dr McGavin's nose.

"It was with considerable alarm that we learned that the assistant curator of entomology is addicted to eating insects," he said.

"What future for the world-famous Hope Collections of insects for which he is supposedly responsible? Will we discover next that one of the Bodleian's librarians is a bookworm?"

Dr McGavin, 44, of Spring Gardens, Abingdon, described his mouth-watering first insect meal: "There they were in a wonderful pile, all roasted and crunchy. When I got close, the stallholder invited me to try one. It was delicious." Since then he has acquired a fondness for fried grasshoppers, which he gets Korean students to bring him in large tubs. But his real favourite is a two-inch African beetle.

He said insects had a slightly nutty taste, though some suggested tangy chicken.

One university friend said: "George McGavin is an interesting character. I did not know about his taste for insects but nothing he did would be a total surprise."

For beginners he recommended the grasshoppers, which have a crunchy nutty flavour and are packed with nutrients. And don't worry if you don't have got any Korean friends - you can buy them from pet shops in small tubs of spider food. HOW TO COOK YOUR WORM

(By Oxford Mail cookery expert HELEN PEACOCKE)

The principles used for cooking standard meats apply just as well when cooking bugs and worms. If you can cook roast beef and two veg, or knock up a tasty stir fry, you can certainly prepare more exotic dishes. Worms don't taste too bad, but they tend to toughen up if you fry or boil them.

They are best baked in a moderate oven until quite firm, then chopped up and ground to a flour using a pestle and mortar.

This flour is best used for its nutritional content, as it has very little positive flavour. But it is bursting with vitamins and minerals.

Once ground it can be sprinkled into a stir fry, stew, or any savoury dish which needs pepping up a bit.

But be warned, if you serve these dishes at a dinner party, you will find the guests have a tendency to leave the table in a hurry once they find out what you have used to thicken the gravy.

If you must serve worms for dinner, I suggest a robust red Australian wine to wash them down - a Cabernet Sauvignon perhaps.

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