The crispy cricket – Attitudes, habits, and tradition in insect consumption

Abstract

Consuming insects as a solution to climate change became popular in scientific publications but most of these publications focus on western countries. The objective of this study was to explore attitudes and motivations towards insect consumption in a country where insect consumption is common. A questionnaire was administered to 462 Mexicans in regions where insect consumption is frequent. The questionnaire included three main sections: 1) edible insect representations, 2) attitude and consumption drivers and 3) consumption habits. A majority of respondents declared eating insects (60%). The representation of edible insects of respondents not eating insects was not very different from that of the respondents eating insects, both being organized around the type of edible insects and their nutritional value. A Principal Component Analysis revealed four main attitude dimensions: Eating insect is 1) a habit from the past, 2) a tradition, 3) for snack and special occasions, 4) trendy. Most of noneaters disagreed with the tradition dimension. Insect-eaters’ drivers were mostly nutritional and sensory, liking crispy texture, spiciness, and salty taste of insects. Sustainability, convenience, and affordability were not important drivers. Concerning culinary habits, participants declared to prepare each insect in different ways (taco, complex dishes). To sum up, our results highlight that the fact of seeing eating insects as disgusting and that insects need to be “invisible” to be accepted is culturally acquired among western countries. We suggest that hedonic persuasion strategies based on current practices may be more efficient in promoting entomophagy than nutritional and sustainable messages.