Countertop grasshopper breeding…
I recently came across a fascinating and thought provoking article entitled: The Lepsis is a Terrarium for Growing Edible Bugs at Home! (The images included below borrowed from the article at InHabitat.com)
There has been a lot of talk recently about eating insects since the United Nations officially endorsed and encouraged using insects as a sustainable food source due to their high fat, protein and mineral content. Indeed, insects are considered a delicacy in many places around the world. It seems only those humans more closely associated with modern western “civilization” find the thought distasteful; modern people prefer lobster and shrimp to crickets and grasshoppers. (On this perplexing subject I will refer readers to an excellent essay by the late David Foster Wallace, which can be read here: Consider the Lobster (2004).
The Lepsis, reportedly developed by Mansour Ourasanah in collaboration with KitchenAid, the all to familiar kitchen paraphernalia brand:
Lepsis comes with four different units–one each for breeding, growing, harvesting and killing your next delicious grasshopper burger. So far, it’s just in the prototype phase…
Below, some promo material :
And below, a more technical breakdown of some of the components integrated into the Lepsis.
Nop[e…Its times like these that I am really REALLY glad to be vegan 😉
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Grasshoppers are good to eat. One time there were so many it was easy to gather them up. They were feasting on wild sunflowers helianthus. We caught a gallon or more in 20 minutes. We left them in a big paper bag in the shade for an hour or two so they could defecate . Then we rinsed them pretty well and toasted them in a wok with a little salt. They were good and I would love to do it again but I guess those feasts are far and few between.
Richard,
Thanks so much for the comment and for visiting the site. Very interesting. I believe that in the near future people will have to be more open to consuming insects. If you haven’t already seen this book I think you would appreciate it and most likely find inspiration for another meal. The book is called: Man Eating Bugs: The Art and Science of Eating Insects, By Peter Menzel. A fascinating photographic journey around the world offering glimpses into a wide variety of insect eating cultures.