Abstract
Edible insects are regarded as one of the most sustainable animal protein sources for human consumption, but for western people insects are a rather unusual food ingredient. In the media, however, insect consumption is gaining increasing attention and people are starting to acknowledge insects as a potential source of protein. The eating of insects, ‘entomophagy’, is bringing new insect food companies, ‘ento-preneurs’ to the market, yet current research is still insufficient and relatively fragmented to support the commercialization of insect-based food products. Therefore, more systematic research approaches are needed in this area. This review article introduces the benefits and challenges of insect-eating, discusses the factors that are known to influence consumer acceptance, and categorizes factors including adoption strategies into a framework that can be applied in future consumer studies on entomophagy. In addition, the article introduces three distinctive examples of design interventions to illustrate how design can contribute as a strategy to support the general adoption of insect foods by western consumers.
Highlights
IntroductionEdible insects have recently gained attention in the western media as a 11
Insects for human consumptionEdible insects have recently gained attention in the western1 media as a 11.potential contributor to global food security
This article examines three research questions: (1) what are the justifications for insect-eating presented in current literature and how do they reflect consumers’ concerns?; (2) What factors are understood as influencing consumer acceptance of insects as food?; and (3) How can design interventions address these factors and support the adoption of edible insects?
Summary
Edible insects have recently gained attention in the western media as a 11. Part of this increased publicity is 12. Due to a report published in 2013 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture 13. Organisation (FAO) entitled Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed 14. Security (van Huis et al 2013), which underlines the benefits of edible insects 15. Current research considers insects to be a 16. Sustainable animal protein source, mainly due to environmental criteria since 17. Insects require considerably less feed (Collavo et al 2005), water 2015) and space (van Huis et al 2013), and emit fewer greenhouse gases 19. (Oonincx et al 2010) than other animal-based protein sources.
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