Chefs with a strong constitution can now grow their own insects at home to help them cook up a balanced, sustainable diet.
A 海角视频 company has developed a stacking pod system, on sale in time for Christmas, for people to grow mealworms in.
When the bugs are nice and juicy, you can eat them whole or pop them in a meal.
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The founder of Loughborough food-tech brand BeoBia came up with the idea because he wanted to play his part in cutting the amount of carbon that goes into farming chickens, cow and other forms of food.
Thomas Constant raised more than £20,000 from a Kickstarter campaign in the summer to launch his “food regenerator pod” – which he has named Re_ – which uses kitchen waste as food for the insects.
The mealworm larva, which require just the right level of temperature and humidity, grow to around an inch within a couple of weeks and can stay like that for several months.
They can then be cooked and eaten as they are or made into a powder, and used in meals, salads, and baked goods – from pizzas to cookies to smoothies.
BeoBia, which is based on the Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park campus, is supplying the pods in time for Christmas – making a great present for a broad-minded chef who cares about the environment.
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The company has even published an insect recipe eBook, with recipes including bug burgers, Thai butternut soup, Goan curry and peanut butter.
The pods, currently available for pre-order at £89.99, are also being shipped around the world after hundreds of backers pledged more than £21,000 during the Kickstarter.
Although the company doesn’t sell the bugs, Mr Constant says mealworms are widely sold online and in stores as food for reptiles, wild and caged birds and small pet mammals.
He said: “The turning point for me was when I learnt that if cows were a country, they would be the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter worldwide after China and America.
“Meanwhile, to meet demand for the increasing global population, a 70 per cent increase in food production is required by 2050.
“These facts shocked me. I wanted to do something about it.
“I read a UN article about the benefits of insect production and how sustainable they are to produce; for example, they are much more land, water and feed-efficient than traditional livestock.
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“But not everyone has access to garden space.
“So I designed an insect growing pod which can be used even if you live in the middle of a city.
“Using it to grow delicious insect-based food means everyone can reduce their carbon footprint, recycle fruit and veg leftovers and rethink their relationship with food.”
Mr Constant, 25, grew up in Brighton and lives in Leicestershire after studying industrial design & technology at Loughborough University.
He founded Beobia in 2019, and said the name means “food for life” in Gaelic.
He said his pods can produce protein that is 22,000 times more water-efficient than beef.
The modular, user-friendly design means they can be placed on kitchen worktops or anywhere that’s dry and at room-temperature.
Home farmers need to feed each tray every couple of days with fruit and vegetable waste, wait for the insects to develop, harvest them, and then turn them into sustainable and healthy food.
Mealworms which pupate and turn into beetles should be allowed to lay eggs for the next batch of food.
Different pods are used for the different stages of the insects.
The pods are made in Loughborough using 3D printing, using recycled British plant-based plastics from renewable resources, such as corn starch.