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posted by cmn32480 on Friday November 20 2015, @04:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the stomach-bugging-you? dept.

Fast Coexist reports on the Edible Insect Desktop Hive, a kitchen gadget designed to raise mealworms (beetle larva), a food that has the protein content of beef without the environmental footprint. The hive can grow between 200 and 500 grams of mealworms a week, enough to replace traditional meat in four or five dishes.

The hive comes with a starter kit of "microlivestock," and controls the climate inside so the bugs have the right amount of fresh air and the right temperature to thrive. If you push a button, the mealworms pop out in a harvest drawer that chills them. You're supposed to pop them in the freezer, then fry them up or mix them into soup, smoothies, or bug-filled burgers. "Insects give us the opportunity to grow on small spaces, with few resources," says designer Katharina Unger, founder of Livin Farms, the company making the new home farming gadget. "A pig cannot easily be raised on your balcony, insects can. With their benefits, insects are one part of the solution to make currently inefficient industrial-scale production of meat obsolete."

Of course, that assumes people will be willing to eat them. Unger thinks bugs just need a little rebranding to succeed, and points out that other foods have overcome bad reputations in the past. "Even the potato, that is now a staple food, was once considered ugly and was given to pigs," says Unger adding that sushi, raw fish, and tofu were once considered obscure products. "Food is about perception and cultural associations. Within only a short time and the right measures, it can be rebranded. . . . Growing insects in our hive at home is our first measure to make insects a healthy and sustainable food for everyone."


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  • (Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday November 20 2015, @05:24PM

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Friday November 20 2015, @05:24PM (#265876) Journal

    What is not addressed n the article is whether the bugbox supports a complete beetle lifecycle, or whether you have to keep restocking it with mailorder "microlivestock" kits. In other words, does this system allow any of the mealworms to develop into beetles and seed the next generation?

    Also, what happens when the thing inevitably gets knocked off the worktop and splashes its contents all over the kitchen floor? Do you have escapee worms and beetles crawling around your home for the next 3 weeks?

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  • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday November 20 2015, @06:17PM

    by richtopia (3160) on Friday November 20 2015, @06:17PM (#265891) Homepage Journal

    From the Kickstarter I believe it is the complete lifecycle. There is a cross-sectional which has a pupae shelf and a dotted line to the top where the beetles get busy.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Friday November 20 2015, @06:24PM

    by Gaaark (41) on Friday November 20 2015, @06:24PM (#265895) Journal

    the one picture on the livin farms site shows 'pupae are put back into top to restart lifecycle', which i gather means you just take some of the meal worms and pop them in the top so they'll grow into beetles and continue from there.

    i used to raise mealworms for my turtle: it's easy, but this seems like maybe it would be easier? good idea, but $700? I'd have to save aplenty for that, so i guess i'd have to start back raising them myself to save on meat to save for the kit.....

    Maybe i'll go to the pet store, buy some mealworms and have a wok-fry and try it out and see how it tastes....

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:16PM (#265950)

      Bushnigger guy here.

      Ever consider kicking it up a notch and breeding turtles for turtle soup? Would certainly save some effort dishwashing bowls.