(Image source from: Top News: Meet the insect-eating adventurer from India})

India has found its own “Bear Grylls” — a man who feeds on leeches and roaches and swears by Scorpion as his favorite dish.

Meet the 23-year-old John Peter, a resident of Coimbatore, who lives on a daily diet of dragonflies, caterpillars, lizards, frogs, snails, spiders, ants and grasshoppers. And now,  the young man has his heart and eyes set on creating a new Guinness World Record — that of eating a record number of wriggly earthworms in a minute.

Peter, who aspires to be a TV adventurer just like his 'Man Vs Wild' idol Grylls, says, ‘I love people looking at me weirdly when I eat insects. I want people to respect me like they do Bear Grylls. People are disgusted when I eat stuff like earthworms and cockroaches but they’re amazed also. It’s a good feeling.’

He first slimy snack was at the age of 15 when he ate a worm after getting inspired by an episode of Bear Grylls' Man Vs Wild.

‘To be honest I didn’t want to be boring or like other people,' he said. 'I wanted to be a bit different, so when I tried eating insects for the first time and found them to be quite tasty, it was the start of a new habit.’

‘People started to recognise me on the street - it was brilliant,' said Mr Peter, who insists the texture of insects is crunchy and sweet.

‘I love the taste, even more so when I mix them with pickles and roti. But dead insects are really horrible. They’re not nice at all, so I have to find live ones to eat to make it more enjoyable for me.'

He sources his daily ration of insects from his garden and his friend's farm.

JOHN PETER'S DAILY DIET
Breakfast
Indian breakfast of Dosa
1/2Kgs earthworms

Lunch
Vegetable and cheese sandwich filled with earthworms, made by his mother
Snack:
10 to 20 lizards

Evening snack
Cockroaches and ants

Dinner
Dal and rice, with dragonflies or grasshoppers as sides

One Scorpion a week as a treat

Image Source: Daily Mail

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury