Children from a Greenwich school were asked to hand out ‘mince flies’ to the capital’s punters yesterday in an unusual take on the popular festive treat.

Pupils from the Harris Academy fed hungry Christmas shoppers in the London Borough Market with pies packed with mealworm, larvae and even locusts measuring two centimetres as part of the Big Bang Scientists and Engineers Fair.

Reactions to the creepy-crawley delicacies was positive with the pies being snapped up from mince fly creator and top food science television presenter Stefan Gates.

He said: “Trust me, mince flies really are delicious and we hope they will get people thinking about what their traditional Christmas dinner might look like in the future.”

The fair was attended by other school children involved in STEM – a national project which aims to encourage children to consider careers in science, technology, engineering or maths.

Harris Academy STEM programme leader Keith Jones said: “Insects are very nutritious and actually people don’t realise they taste very nutty. I tried them and really liked them and the reaction was great – so much so that they completely ran out.”

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