Cricket milkshakes are hopping into a burger joint near you

Forget whipped cream with a cherry on top — at Wayback Burgers, milkshakes are being made extra special with cricket powder.

It’s like something out of a delicious culinary nightmare.

Its Oreo Mud Pie Cricket milkshake capitalizes on the rise in popularity of cricket powder in the U.S. as a source of added protein in smoothies, shakes and other foods. Originally the chain launched it as an April Fools’ joke, but the response was so positive the restaurant is bringing it back. If you can mind-over-matter yourself into actually drinking the thing, you’ll be getting a whopping 24 grams of protein just from one shake. That’s thanks to Peruvian chocolate cricket protein powder. The taste of the actual crickets is hopefully masked by the vanilla ice cream, Oreo crumbles and chocolate and coffee flavors that make up the rest of the shake.

If crickets just aren’t meaty enough for your dessert, you can also try Wayback Burgers’ Jerky milkshake, which somehow sounds even more twisted, flavor-wise, than the cricket shake. Packing 20 grams of protein, the shake is made with vanilla ice cream and barbecue, maple and hickory flavors and is served with two Slim Jim snack sticks. Just in case you wanted a weird “Dad’s fave gas station snack” vibe with your dessert.

There’s a certain irony in a milkshake having enough protein to count as a post-workout snack while sounding just a little too bizarre for me to actually feel motivated to work for it. But somehow Wayback Burgers has succeeded. Protein enthusiasts and wacky-ice cream aficionados can try one of the shakes at Wayback Burgers locations nationwide from July 1 to Sept. 30.

More edible crickets

Why are health nerds gobbling up cricket flour?
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt let their kids eat bugs
A guide to raising and breeding crickets for food