Lepsis: At home breeder for entomophagy

Status: Master’s Thesis Completed in 2012

Our appetite for meat and a rapidly increasing urban population are causing a multitude of environmental and nutritional problems that will culminate into a global food shortage in 2050. Lepsis aims to evolve attitudes toward sustainable food production methods within urban environments by enabling us to grow grasshoppers as a sustainable protein alternative or an addition to farmed meat. Lepsis is a symbol of change and personal responsibility and a vessel for responsibly growing, harvesting and neatly killing insects before turning them into food.

Lepsis is comprised of three modules: a temperature controlled acrylic nest where the grasshoppers live and feed, a harvesting vessel which can be attached to the nest to collect the full grown grasshoppers, and a small light that lures them into the harvester. Once a month the grasshoppers are harvested and frozen while eggs start hatching in the nest, beginning the process anew.