With a booming population and the strain already put on the environment by meat consumption, we’d better get used to the idea of consuming a plentiful source of protein: bugs. The UN is encouraging people to eat more insects, but that doesn’t mean you need to go out into your yard and try your hand at catching grasshoppers. Farming your own edible insects may be the way of the future, for those who can get past the ick factor.
Terrariums like the Lepsis by designer Mansour Ourasanah could be sitting on many kitchen counters before too long. Made in collaboration with KitchenAid, this little self-contained grasshopper farm is as much of a visual curiosity as it is a functional piece of equipment.
It consists of four individual units that support the life cycle of grasshoppers, so you can grow them from eggs and watch them develop. One of the units ‘harvests’ them for you, so you don’t have to do any nasty insect-squishing yourself.
The idea is that an attractive, interesting appliance could help make edible insects more palatable to Westerners, who make up the bulk of the mere 20% of the world population that doesn’t already eat bugs. Would the Lepsis make you more likely to add grasshoppers and other insects to your diet?

