You know those reality shows where competitors eat a disgusting pile of bugs to win some incredible amount of money?

Well, the idea of eating insects is less “reality show” than you might realize, and more “reality.”

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a report in 2013 to make the case for worldwide adoption of insects as a food source in an effort to combat global hunger. The report also described some cultures’ long-held practices of eating insects.

According to the U.N, here are a few reasons you should consider bugs to supplement your next meal: Some have a good nutritional profile, providing healthful fats, protein, zinc, iron and calcium.

The environment stands to benefit, too. Unlike livestock, most insects don’t produce methane, a gas that has a warming effect on the atmosphere. Bugs also convert their food into body mass much more effectively than mammals do … which equals protein. This occurs because insects are cold blooded.

You’re probably wondering what insects people eat and how they are prepared. It’s safe to say there are many options out there.

There’s at least one American bakery making cookies that contain cricket powder. The crickets used here are not pillaged from the yard. They are grown on farms and cleaned before being baked and ground.

But many people around the world do make snacks from bugs they find outdoors. Some popular ones include caterpillars, bees, beetles, ants, grasshoppers and dragonflies. In some cases, the larvae are eaten, too.

Would you ever eat a bug? The tide seems to be turning on insects as food, so perhaps one day, you’ll find yourself biting into a cricket powder cookie or a beetle brownie.