UGA Student Has a Yen for Bugs---As a Food Source

University of Georgia senior Harman Singh Johar, 22, remembers one particular college roommate fondly. The guy was so pleasant and easy going, he didn't mind that Harmon had made a closet in their room the headquarters of a small insect-raising industry.

"He was really an understanding fellow," says Harmon, who has since moved World Entomophagy out of his residence hall room and into his Athens apartment.

Today, the three-year-old business supplies meal worms, crickets and grasshoppers--plus an occasional scorpion or tarantula--to businesses, UGA and other universities and individuals. It employs 15 people worldwide, nine of them based in Athens. The insects go into food products such as energy bars, breads and cookies, since they're another protein source.

World Entomophagy does a brisk trade with UGA's entomology department, Yale University and with the New York Botanical Garden--plus several cafes, restaurants and bakeries. There's an unnamed individual who orders 10 pounds of insects for his own consumption.

Harmon's business combines his academic interests, applied biotechnology and entomology. A student in the UGA College of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, he said he was thinking about how we maintain societies, which led him to study social insects, which sparked the idea of a business selling edible insects.

His business was recently one of a few featured in a UGA event spotlighting student entrepreneurs.

Being an entrepreneur seems a genetic trait for Harmon, the son of Indian immigrants in Atlanta. His father has owned restaurants and now owns grocery stores. His uncle has a t-shirt design and manufacturing company in New York. And his little sister plans on creating her own fashion line.

Harmon hope to find a job of some sort when he graduates in May. But he plans to continue running his business, no matter what he does.

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