Meet Nairobi cockroach-eater: He chews 70 insects twice a week

Geoffrey Lubia with portrait of Kenya's President elect William Ruto. He claims that eating roaches healed his stomach ulcers.

One man's poison is another man's meat is popular phrase. Would you enjoy a meal of coackroaches? Possibly not, but for Geoffrey Lubia, fate made him do the unimaginable and now he is addicted to snacking on one of human's worst nightmares.

A few years ago, Lubia was runnig his Kibanda business in Upper-hill Nairobi. Unlickly, his business was knocked down to pave way for road expansion and, "I was left with nothing else to do. As things got thick, my wife and children went back to Kakamega leaving me behind to hustle in the city, that was my only source of income," said the father of two.

After months of hardship, "Life became hard to the extent that I slept hungry." Adding that, "One day, I trapped and ate cockroaches."

Surprisingly, the self-made artist realized that after days of munching on roaches, stomach ulcers that had been giving me sleepless nights were gradually vanishing. Now he can't help it.

"I still eat the around 70 cockroaches twice a week; they are plenty in my house because I don't touch them in their hiding places," Lubia told The Nairobian, adding that, "I also learnt the insects are rich in proteins and other important nutrients."

The coackroach-eating artist is now appealing to the President elect William Ruto to collect his portrait, stating that it is a special gift for him.

"I started by painting airbrush portrait of William Ruto that took me more than a month since I heard him sharing about his humble life from selling eggs in 80's and got inspired."

Are coackroaches dangerous?

According to World Health Organization, cockroaches are "unhygienic scavengers in human settlements."

However, scientists have discovered that this milk-like crystalline substance produced by a specific type of cockroach called Diploptera punctata is nutritious and considered a complete food, as it's a good source of protein, carbs, and fats. This is according to healthline.com.

Lab research shows that it's more than three times as nutritious as cow's milk, buffalo milk, and human breast milk. However, harvesting coackroach milk is labour intensive and unrealistic as it involves killing a female cockroach and her embryos once it begins to lactate and then harvesting the crystals from its midgut. In addition, there's currently no research demonstrating that cockroach milk is safe for human consumption.