Category: Insects

Community

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This practice showed how the business, community and the society interacts for the project or the product that I will be creating. It shows the connection between people and how the business could be started. The owner of the insects could start the promotion of Entomophagy. The owner can show the advantages of growing the insects indoor and start to post information on SNS. He or she will also post pictures of the re-made food with insects and recipe. For example, a hamburger with the insects or just fried insects. This will help to share information and less the prejudice of eating insects.

 


First Image usage from Focus on Belgium: http://focusonbelgium.be/en/lifestyle/whats-dinner-insects-burger-gastronomy

Second Image usage from iStock: http://www.istockphoto.com/de/foto/gebratener-grillen-ist-das-speisen-in-thail%C3%A4ndischem-gm527438917-53140050

Final Design and Building Process

After deciding my final design, I started to build the product. I purchased the materials.

  • Woods: The most common resources in Kenya and have easy accessibility in Berlin too.
  • Weaving yards: Weaving baskets and textiles are the traditional way of making products in Kenya.
  • Black plexiglass: The insects need dark and warm environment for the breeding process.

This is the outline structure of the whole product. It is DIY product that can be assembled and disassembled very easily.

The weaving process.

The black plexiglass for the walls.

Design Process

 

The first ideations were focused on the form and combination of using this product both in Kenya and Berlin.

  • Curvy shape that indicates and abstract form of mealworms.
  • Three separate drawers for adults, larva and pupa.
  • There should be a mosquito screen to separate larva’s eggs from the adults.
  • Industrial design to attract people.

 

However, my design had to change after the consultation with Susanne and Virginie. Their main critiques were:

  • Keep the shape simple (straight lines and shapes).
  • No industrial design
  • Look at the resources and then look at the design.
  • Present the advantages.

So, after the consultation, I came up with a new design.

This new shape is rectangular and straight lines with available hinges. It also included weaving technique at the top drawer instead of a mosquito screen to separate the eggs. I kept the design very simple and easy for Kenyans and Berliners to use.

Entomophagy: Stop Collecting and Start Producing

We are living in a world where many countries are facing food security issues. This means lack of quality, quantity and diversity. To solve this problem sustainably, people came up with a word called entomophagy, practice of eating insects. However, many would ask, why insects? It is because people overlook the advantages of insects and rather focus on their looks. One of the strengths of insects is they help curb food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa. For example, mealworms provide as much proteins, vitamins and minerals as fish and meat. Also, grasshoppers have proteins as lean ground beef with less fat per gram. Another benefit would be that it has a huge potential to reduce our overconsumption of natural resources. Farming and harvesting insects requires much less land and water than cows, pigs and sheep. So why not start producing insects?

 

 

 

Entomophagy already exists in Africa as a traditional way of eating a meal. They are collected by children and young adults, most of the time, and they enjoy it as part of a game. Yet, even the time of hunting is decreasing because many children are demanded to attend schools. Due to this issues, insects are not available for them a year long and it is considered as an instant food. Now, they should start farming and produce insects constantly. Even the Europeans and Americans have problem eating insects. They deny it because of the prejudice that they are dirty and carry disease. However, we have to learn how to love foods and to rebrand insects. There are some successful cases in the past.  For example, potatoes were food for the poor, sushi were workers’ food and lobsters were considered as the cockroaches of the ocean. Yet, now these foods are internationally known and loved by many people. So, there is a possibility of changing people’s image towards insects. In fact, we already eat insects in our lives without realizing it.  We eat 500 grams of insects per year through these foods:

So why not just eat insects as it is and why don’t we make a use of them for our healthier lives? People think that farming insects could create a mess and chaos and think that they do not have an access to it because they are very extensive. Therefore, I came up with the idea of creating a small scale indoor breeding product for insects. This could help both Berliners and Africans to eat insects all year long without worrying about the accessibility.

When I was doing a deeper research, I found some products that already exist. The main and the most popular product would be made by Katharina Unger. She have made series of products and here are some of them:

These products are very high- tech and focuses on the idea of raising insects indoors. Yet, my main concern is that it is so highly priced (almost $600 an average). This hesitates many customers because they would not want to buy this expensive products just for insects. Also, I would like to create a product that both Africans and Berliners can use, which means less cost and using accessible materials such as woods and roofing sheets.

 

 

 

 


First Image usage from Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/top-4-most-eaten-insects-africa-why-insect-farming-has-iwuoha

Second Image usage from Indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bugs-for-life-promoting-edible-insects-for-food-security#/

Third Image usage from TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6WV_crB9o

Fourth Image usage from Dezeen: https://www.dezeen.com/2015/11/10/katharina-ungers-livin-farm-edible-insects-mealworms-home-grown/