Edible insects – exotic food or gastronomic innovation? Study involving 14 countries

This study explores the perceptions about edible insects and their usage in modern gastronomy. Data were collected through questionnaire survey in 14 countries, and 7222 responses were obtained. ANOVA and factor analysis were used, respectively to evaluate differences between groups and to analyze the scale items. The results showed that participants showed higher agreement toward insects being considered exotic foods and being associated with taboos and neophobia. Some sociodemographic factors (country, age class, education level and income) were proven to significantly influence with the perceptions. while sex and living environment did not. Factor analysis extracted three factors, one associated with the uses of insects in gastronomy, another associated with insects as foods and a third about insects not being proper for human consumption. In conclusion, the work revealed differences between countries in the perceptions about edible insects, and that these perceptions were also significantly influenced according to other sociodemographic variables.

Description

This work was supported by the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P. Furthermore, we would like to thank the CERNAS, CIDEI, and UCISA:E Research Centers and the Polytechnic University of Viseu for their support. This research was developed in the ambit of project “EISuFood—Edible Insects as Sustainable Food”, with Reference CERNAS-IPV/2020/003 (10.54499/UIDP/00681/2020).

Keywords

Edible insects Culinary Exotic food Gastronomic usage Gourmet kitchen

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.11/9154

Citation

GUINÉ, Raquel P.F. [et al.] (2024) - Edible insects – exotic food or gastronomic innovation? Study involving 14 countries. Journal of Culinary Science & Technology. P. 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15428052.2024.2354216