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: 1) by pyg on Saturday November 21 2015, @02:45AM
The same to could be said of soybeans. Employ a skilled culinary advocate (when you pay them they like to be called chef) for some ideas. I can easily see mealworm "sloppy joes" coming off as well (better even) than soy based.
I withhold comment on efficiency/ethics/etc. I think soldier fly larva will be a big hit 5+ years after eating bugs becomes at least ok. Almost pure fat/protein and heavy on the fat it rivals a well marbled beef steak in terms of composition.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 21 2015, @12:52PM
So you'll be the guy in the scene from Dark Matter [wikipedia.org] who grabs everyone else's meal worm burgers when they find out what they're made of [mikesfilmtalk.com].
Washington DC delenda est.