A team of students from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London are working on a project that many westerners would find particularly weird. Their motivation comes from the current food industry and how it is affecting the world, in the sense of how it affects the planet via carbon footprint and its overall sustainability. The project is called Ento and their main goal is to introduce the consumption of insects in the occidental diet, which can be a difficult task considering we've been conditioned to not do that when in most parts of the world it's a normal part of their food chain.
This project is the outcome of the team's motivation to tackle the growing issue of food security in an increasingly hungry world. Discovering the environmental and nutritional benefits of insects as a sustainable alternative to the high energy required to produce other meats, we wanted to see how it could be introduced into Western cultures through design.
So can a consistent and overall beautiful branding convince people to start eating bugs? Their approach is clever, they eliminated the literal form of the insects and transformed them into little portions that are carefully put into cute bento boxes. This presentation might attract attention to the consumers and encourage them to try the little bites without seeing the actual bugs which, let's admit it, is the main reason why people wouldn't dare to eat them: they're goddamn ugly! So can this approach to the product be viable and potentially become a reality? I hope so, people should be more openminded about their food intake and also be responsible with the way they're being produced. The Ento presentation video does a better job explaining that part, so check it out and as someone who has already tried bugs... they aren't bad at all and they're a great source of proteins at the lowest cost. Kudos for the Ento team for their brilliant initiative and for the great design as well!
