May 13, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: A Gross Gadget That Raises Flies for You to Eat

Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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Reykjavík-based design student Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson has developed an appliance called the [Fly Factory](http://cargocollective.com/blacksoldier/) that turns household pests into haute cuisine.
Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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Black soldier fly larvae are grown and harvested to provide an ecologically friendly form of protein.

Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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The system includes a refrigerator to cool the insect products but at the other end it heats up the compartments where the flies and larvae are located. "So that they feel nice and cozy," says Aðalsteinsson.
Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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The fly larvae are harvested, dried, and ground into a powder then mixed with wheat, milk, eggs, spiced to taste, then baked in an oven.

Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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"Earlier in the project I was working on a model out of wood and it looked more like a DIY kind of object," says Aðalsteinsson. "This got me thinking and at the end of the day aesthetics have a lot to do with how we perceive and understand objects and their prospects."
Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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Ultimately, he traded in the DIY look for a stainless steel design intended to fit into a commercial kitchen.

Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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The windows were included to give the kitchen staff, or forward-thinking foodies, an insight into the fly lifecycle.
Photos by Búi Bjarmar Aðalsteinsson
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Aðalsteinsson learned how to harness the lifecycle of flies for caloric purposes by working with an entrepreneur named Jón Árnason.

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