Katharina Unger, who lives in Vienna, Austria, has developed "Farm 432", which makes it easy to cultivate edible maggots at home.


Unger states the motivation for developing Farm 432:

"Farm 432 is a new system that allows you to turn your back on the current dysfunctional meat production system by culturing your own protein source insects."

Unger cultivates and observes a fly larva (maggot) called "Black Soldier". Based on the analysis results, it is said that it has developed a farming kit "Farm 432" that can reproduce the growth process from eggs to adults by hatching at home.

"I bought maggots, colonized flies and tested if the process worked. It's very nice to see maggots become pupae, from which flies emerge, mate and lay eggs. It was exciting. "

At Farm 432, maggots are placed in a small room at the top of the device. Maggots become adults (flies) and move to the main room below. Mate and lay eggs. Larvae that hatch from eggs grow in the "children's playground" area and are captured in the "harvest box". The mechanism is to use the captured maggots for food.


If some of the captured maggots are placed in a small room at the top of the device, the aquaculture process can be repeated.

By the way, why did Unger choose Black Soldier for aquaculture?

Adult Black Soldiers have no mouth. Larvae store a large amount of protein in their bodies as active energy required after they become adults. Unger explains:

"Black Soldier larvae are one of the most effective and most protein-producing insects. Larvae contain up to 42% protein, a lot of calcium, and amino acids."

When one gram of Black Soldier egg hatches into a larva, it produces approximately 2.4 kilograms of protein. Unger hopes that once Farm 432 becomes widespread, households around the world will be able to produce 500 grams of larvae per week. This is approximately equivalent to two adult meals.

By the way, what does maggot taste like?

"The maggots I cultivated had a unique taste. During cooking, they smelled like potatoes. The texture was hard on the outside and soft on the inside. The taste was like nuts, but a little meat. It tasted like

Unger's recommended maggot dish is tomato risotto using maggots.

"Put parsley and basil on it for a perfect meal."