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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."
(Score: 3, Funny) by Valkor on Friday November 20 2015, @06:39PM
I dunno what problem cmn32480 is having with it, I can't keep a fish tank WITHOUT growing the stuff like crazy. Just put it in some partial sunlight (or full sunlight if you're crazy) and in a week it'll be everywhere.
Of course I'm not 100% sure this is the same algae, I don't have the tools or skills to find out.
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Friday November 20 2015, @07:33PM
The problem I'm having with what? I am so VERY confused!
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday November 20 2015, @08:48PM
I doubt the stuff growing in your fish tank is spirulina. IIUC, spirulina is a variety of marine (i.e. salt water) algae. Certainly every time (rarely) I've tried to eat it it was unedibly high in salt.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.