Dishes such as ant spring rolls, silkworm pupa cakes have been introduced to the menu to serve customers by Bugs Cafe restaurant in Siem Reap.

Insect-based dishes are not too strange in Cambodia, but are mostly sold at street vendors or tourist sites. Bugs Cafe in Siem Reap City, northwestern Cambodia, is considered a pioneer restaurant selling these dishes.

Restaurant employees wear shirts with the words "I Hate Insects" (I hate insects), but the "H" is crossed out, becoming "I ate Insects" (I ate insects).

In the restaurant's processing area, chef Seiha Soeun stands by the hot pan, putting insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, spiders and scorpions to make dishes. The most popular are fried insect dishes, served with dipping sauce or as bait for beer.

"We have a different style," says chef Soeun. For example, ants, bees, silkworms, crickets are pureed by a restaurant, served with a slice of cheese and pickles. There are also sweet potato popsicles, mango silkworm chrysanthemums or dumplings for dessert.

"We want to prove that we can produce quality dishes from insects," said Davy Blouzard, one of the restaurant's founders.

About two billion people worldwide eat insects, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Considered a cheap source of protein, insect dishes may be the answer to the growing concern from the environmental impact of livestock farming.