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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 jdavidb on Friday November 20 2015, @07:03PM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Friday November 20 2015, @07:03PM (#265912) Homepage Journal
    Wow, I went to Amazon and searched for silkworm pupae, and it's there. Not fresh though, and it appears to be for pet food. But today I ate cheese curds we ordered off of amazon, so if we can get those, maybe it's not long till you can get your silkworm pupae and fry them at home.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:07PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 20 2015, @08:07PM (#265946)

    Actually I think you can get the Thai style ones:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crunchy-Critters-Silkworm-Pupae/dp/B011KWHU7C [amazon.co.uk]
    But that's pretty expensive for just 20.
    http://www.amazon.com/Fried-Bugs-Pupae-BBQ-Flavoured/dp/B014GVL9A8/ [amazon.com]
    BBQ flavor? Would that really be nice? Don't like BBQ sauce with ribs.

    Not so keen on fried crickets or grasshoppers (don't want to have wings and legs stuck between my teeth - if you think having vegetables stuck in your teeth is gross to others and embarrassing to you...).

    • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Friday November 20 2015, @08:36PM

      by jdavidb (5690) on Friday November 20 2015, @08:36PM (#265960) Homepage Journal
      You can also get cricket flour!
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      ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings