FOOD DESIGN THINKING AND VR IN ENTOMOPHAGY
The World of insect-based food
​Entomophagy (or insects eating) is one of the alternative food consumptions that might be adopted by consumers in Western food cultures, which has the potential to contribute to both individual food well-being and to sustainability and health issues. Although eating insects is not new for many cultures (e.g. Asian culture), it represents a novel and unconventional eating practice in the Western world (e.g. United States and Europe), often characterized by food taboos and by a negative advertising in the media.
Entomophagy is a new trend that is going to disrupt Western societies soon. According to Global Market Insights (2016), the consumption of insects in the western world is dramatically increasing (40% growth per annum) and the market size is estimated to reach $520 million by 2023. Slowly but surely insects are becoming more prevalent in the western food culture and are here to stay.
Advantages of insect-eating
In general, many are the positive aspects that can be mentioned in favor of eating insects, such as the low farming cost, low water consumption, and the healthier protein intakes compared to other food, such as meat (Van Huis, 2016). FAO forecasted a compelling need of increase in production by 70% to sustain the world in 2050, with meat products demand, like beef and poultry, expected to double-up (IFIF, 2021). One of the major limitations of the increase in supply of these products is the high costs of feed, including meat meal, fishmeal and soybean meal, which constitute 60–70% of manufacturing costs. Therefore, insects could make a significant contribution to the global food supply chain in the future (Sun-Waterhouse, 2016).
Insect-based food and Generation Z
Insect-based food is becoming popular and especially young consumers (Barska, 2014) are the strongest promoters of the introduction of insects into the Western market (Fellows, 2014). Insects are a highly sustainable and nutritious source of protein, and, thus, incorporating insects into Western food culture is one way to address major global challenges like global warming and deforestation (things Generation Z is particularly sensitive to).
Unwillingness to eat insect-based food
Westerners’ willingness to eat insect-containing food is low (e.g. Hartmann et al., 2015; Verbeke, 2015). Westerners’ aversion to insects is generally considered a product of cultural transmission just as other cultural food aversions and taboos (Fessler and Navarrete, 2003; Rozin and Haidt, 2013). A large driver of this aversion is thought to be linked to the emotion disgust (Baker et al., 2016; Balzan et al., 2016; Gmuer et al., 2016; Hartmann and Siegrist, 2016, Verbeke, 2015; Yen, 2009) and it is generally believed that insect-containing foods elicit disgust because Westerners falsely categorize insects as a pathogen risk, and, thus, as food contaminators (Jensen and Lieberoth, 2019; Rozin et al., 1986). Therefore, disgust and food neophobia are considered as the main factors in the refusal to eat insects.