From the Series
Could the growing and eating of grasshoppers be a viable (and tasty) alternative to meat?
With the world’s growing appetite for meat comes a multitude of environmental and nutritional issues, calling for a rethink and redesign of the traditional food paradigm.
It’s a complex issue that needs to be addressed from a variety of angles.
One possible way of doing this is by replacing meat with grasshoppers as our main source of protein. Grasshoppers are a great source of protein, with the sustainable advantages of growing them a good reason to rethink our feelings about insect cuisine – they’re already enjoyed by some two billion people around the world.
And what if growing grasshoppers was as easy as having an attractive container in your kitchen? Like most insects, grasshoppers require very little room and few resources to grow. It also only takes about 45 days for a grasshopper to grow to edible maturity.
Mansour Ourasanah became interested in the idea of growing grasshoppers at home when he moved to New York from Togo in West Africa. Concerned about unsustainable meat production methods and wastage, Ourasanah conceptualised LEPSIS: The Art of Growing Grasshoppers.
Working with KitchenAid Ourasanah designed LEPSIS, a kitchen appliance for breeding grasshoppers domestically.
LEPSIS comprises four modular units that attach and detach with ease for functional flexibility and space efficiency in small urban dwellings. When combined, the units create a vessel optimised for neatly breeding, feeding, harvesting and killing grasshoppers, before turning them into food. The details of the vessel visually dictate how the units are assembled, making the process intuitive and fluid.
The aesthetic treatment the LEPSIS received reflect Ourasanah’s desire to make the business of growing grasshoppers as natural and transparent as possible. As such, the vessel has clear acrylic walls with a wooden base, a look that easily fits into modern kitchens.
LEPSIS: The Art of Growing Grasshoppers is a finalist in the Home category of the INDEX: Award 2013.
