Food of the future How to make people taste the insects

Food: So people can make the consumption of insects tasty

Mealworms, grasshoppers, beetles: Insects are considered foods of the future. They are healthier and more environmentally friendly than meat from pigs or cows. But most people find it disgusting to eat the little animals. However, one study has shown how to convince them to eat insects.

Many people find eating insects disgusting

In our culture eating insects (entomophagy) is so far rather uncommon, but in some regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa, the consumption of small animals is already widespread. At the beginning of 2018, the European Union initiated new legislation. Insects or existing products such as pasta or burgers are already being offered more. But for many people, disgust dominates eating such foods. However, how they can convince them to eat insects, has now been shown in a study.

Insects are considered foods of the future. But how do you get people to overcome their disgust and eat the little creatures. Researchers have now dealt with this in a study. (Image: catherinelprod / fotolia.com)

Healthy and environmentally friendly diet

Not only climate change but also the growing population pose major challenges for society worldwide:

How will people be fed in the future without further burdening the climate with food production? Because according to experts, 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions go to their account - the livestock makes a major contribution.

A healthy and sustainable alternative is insect-based foods. These are not only nutritious but also produce significantly less CO2 than cows or pigs.

But how conservative is the population in their dietary habits? And how can confidence in alternative nutrition concepts be increased?

These are the questions a research group has dealt with in a cooperative project.

In their recent study published in the journal "Frontiers in Nutrition," they looked at what advertising and sales arguments motivate people to eat insects.

Overcome disgust with insects

Although German experts have been working years ago on whether insects could be the better food and feed in the future, it was not until the beginning of this year that the sale of insects was regulated in the EU.

Since then, foods such as insect burgers and noodles or dried mealworms are available.

But many people are disgusted by such foods. How can you still convince them of the consumption of insects?

Prof. Dr. Fabian Christandl from Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, Department of Economics & Media, together with colleagues Ass. Prof. Sebastian Berger and Annika Wyss from the University of Bern and Christian Bärtsch from ESSENTO Food AG and Christina Schmidt from the University of Cologne answer in a study.

Subjects were offered mealworm chocolate pralines

According to a statement, a total of 180 subjects participated in the laboratory study, which was conducted at the Hochschule Fresenius on the Cologne campus.

The participants first received one of six specially produced advertising flyers from a start-up for insects as food.

Half of the volunteers were given a flyer with advertising slogans that emphasized the health-promoting and environmentally friendly aspects of insects.

They used slogans like "Meat was never so healthy" or "Meat has never been so environmentally friendly".

The other half of the study participants, on the other hand, received flyers in which insects were touted as luxury products and associated with a trendy lifestyle.

Subsequently, the participants were offered mealworm chocolate pralines.

To advertise insects as a stimulant

The result: 76.2 percent of respondents who presented insects as a luxury product dared to eat the mealworm chocolate pralines.

On the other hand, it was found that the consumption of insects is good for the environment or health, with 61.3 percent were significantly less.

"From our results, it can be deduced that advertising should rather praise insects as a stimulant. With this strategy, they can tend to convince more consumers to take insects on the menu, "said Prof. Dr. med. Fabian Christandl. (Ad)