Jakub Dzamba is a Masters of Architecture graduate from the University of Toronto. During his studies in the Masters program, Jakub was initially focused on the idea of becoming a Space Architect, and wrote and presented a conference paper entitled Lunar Habitat – a composite enclosure system. While still waiting for his first lunar commission, Jakub’s interests evolved to focus on the issue of sustainability and food production here on Earth.
Jakub has been researching and developing a radical approach to urban agriculture named Third Millennium Farming (3MF). 3MF is focused on utilizing city wastewater to farm micro‐crops, such as algae and grass. Micro‐crops are used as feed for micro‐livestock (insects), which are humanely euthanized and processed in experimental insect ingredients.
Jakub is currently completing his Ph.D. studies in architecture at McGill University. Jakub’s studies have a dual focus: 1) understating the effects that grafting 3MF technology onto cities would create on architectural, urban and infrastructural design, and 2) R&D; of domestic insect-farming technologies to serve a proof of concept for his theoretical architectural and urban design propositions. Jakub has founded a company called Third Millennium Farming, which is currently focused on bringing domestic cricket-farming technology to market.
Building upon the loyal team and existing supplier partnerships, Omniverse has brought together specialists with over 50 years combined experience from a range of industries such as packaging, food, private label and OEM product development, contract packing, automation and design. We bring together our wealth of experience and knowlegde to build the synergies found in the Omniverse Group.
Known as the Bug Guy, Harman Singh Johar is a student and entrepreneur with a passion for exotic cuisine and travel. From a family of Sikh-Punjabi immigrants, he grew up in several different cultures, allowing him to develop a taste for the different and unusual. Heavily influenced by the food insecurities that he was exposed to while traveling through India, he had the importance of food ingrained in him at a young age.
Lucky enough to find his passion young, Harman began to tailor his education to better tackle the issues of world hunger, and graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in Biotechnology and Entomology. While at the University of Georgia he founded his first company, World Ento and now works to integrate more sustainable food options into the American diet, specializing in edible insects.
World Ento was founded in 2010 at the University of Georgia by students looking to make a difference. We are focused on driving market growth and innovation, while helping to foster an open and collaborative community.
Our main products are geared toward innovators and entrepreneurs who need a safe and reliable source of insect ingredients to create new products for this rapidly developing industry. We also strive to make sure we can provide the adventurous eater and local chef with a sustainable and convenient source for more personal culinary exploration.
Little Herds is an Austin nonprofit with 501c3 charitable status dedicated to educating the public in Texas and around the world about the environmental and nutritional benefits of edible insects.
Robert Nathan Allen is the founder of Little Herds, North America's first non-profit charity dedicated to educating people about eating insects. He never imagined eating insects could be anything beyond a fear-factor stunt, until his mother sent him a video (as a joke) about their nutritional and environmental benefits, stating "you'll never get me to try this." He took it seriously and started researching entomophagy and was amazed to find out that people all over the world eat them, and for good reason: they're healthy, sustainable, and tasty!
Working with other ento-enthusiasts around the world, and with local supporters who thought the idea was a perfect fit to "Keep Austin Weird," the idea grew into the newly minted charity that is Little Herds. Just two years after video was sent, RNA, as his friends call him, is feeding insects to everybody he can, teaching kids about edible insects, working with locals to try out the bugs, and he's even convinced Mom to try them, and she loves them!
Next Millennium Farms, Darren and Ryan Goldin, worked with Dominique Bureau and his team at the University of Guelph.
We were excited from the very beginning, after experimenting at home, and seeing amazing results, feeding worms to fish. We feel this should not surprise anybody as fish (and chicken) are natural insectivores (insect eaters). Having the opportunity to substantiate our observations was an incredible opportunity for Next Millennium Farms and we look forward to many more collaborations, as the opportunity for insect protein as a cost effective, viable feed and food alternative, proves its value, worth and opportunity for all of us!
The team worked on a 12 week trial, comparing the nutritional value of superworm meal, in comparison to current ingredients such as fish meal, fish oil, canola oil, as well as corn gluten meal and soy protein concentrate. This study is now complete and we are excited by the results. We look forward to releasing the results of this study by Summer 2014.
This study serves as one of many on our journey to achieve a processing and feed permit and licensing for insect protein as a feed for livestock feed. We will achieve this with Dr Doug Youngblut, consultant, via a CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) permit and licensing procedure.
As an anthropologist, I am fascinated by how culture makes our decisions for us when it comes to what we consider food. How can one thing be considered delicious, even a delicacy to some, and repulsive to others? Because so much of our taste is culturally constructed, it means it can change, which is good news since the future cannot support our current appetites for traditional sources of protein.
