Insect Consumption: A Taboo and its Changing Perception
In many westernized countries, eating insects is still frowned upon now as it was in older biblical writings. Insect farming for human consumption did not exist in earlier ages because eating insects was frowned upon in many westernized nations, with the exception of a few invertebrates including bees, silkworms, and scale insects.The Practice of Entomophagy
Around the world, many people eat insects as part of their diet. The practice of eating insects is referred to as entomophagy. Entomophagy is practiced in places like South and East Asia, South and Central America, and Africa (Looy, Dunkel, & Wood, 2014). The majority of nations eat insects as a regular meal, on special occasions, or as food. Approximately 80 percent of the world’s countries consume over 1,000 species of insects (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 2010).The Nutritional Value of Insects
Most of the people who consume insects state that the insects are readily available and very nutritious as it provides a high amount of proteins. These insects tend to be consumed at all stages of development right away from eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. Therefore, Entomophagy is encouraged among those who consume them for different reasons such as health, environmental, and livelihoods.Cultural Beliefs and Taboo Foods
However, insects are considered taboo foods in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism as a result of cultural beliefs about re-incarnation though the insects do not cause any health harm to living being. Despite many countries practicing the eating of insects, it is a taboo especially in many western countries.Commonly Consumed Insects
Some of the commonly consumed insects are; de-winged dragonflies in Bali, tarantulas in Cambodia, bee larvae in China, winged termites in Ghana, cicadas and ants in Latin America and grubs in New Guinea. Others include; beetles, wasps, locusts, crickets, true bugs, and grasshoppers. Thus, the aim behind this study is to understand the role of design in handling the eating of insects as a taboo and generating ideas for how industrial, communication, interaction design, or any interdisciplinary combination, could change people’s relationship to the taboo, so that it is an attractive and even irresistible practice.The Growing Trend of Insect Consumption
Insects consumption is increasing worldwide both locally and internationally, especially among tourists. Insects are being promoted due to their health benefits whereby they are found to be nutritious and of high protein level in comparison to animal proteins such as beef, pork, chicken, and fish. Other than proteins, most insects are also rich in fats, calcium, vitamins, selenium, iron, and zinc. Farming of insects has been found to be environmental friendly as they emit fewer greenhouse gases not as much as most livestock. Rearing of insects is also easy as it does not require land clearing for more production instead they only require feeds. Livestock such as pigs emit a lot of ammonia to the environment compared to insects where the emission is low. Insects efficiently convert feeds into proteins due to their cold-blooded nature. Insects can also feed on organic waste streams hence not difficult to rear. Insects are as well promoted for livelihoods. They are important economic factors where harvesting of insects is less technical and requires low capital to rear, therefore even the poorest in society can rear insects.Industry Growth and Communication
In the West, it is evident that the edible insects industry is growing rapidly. Netherlands is at the forefront in entomophagy followed by the United States where several startups are being initiated, therefore driving the demand. With all these industry coming up the main concern is not on demand but on insect farming economical scale efficiency to meet the growing demand. However, in Dutch and America, the entomophagy industry is growing up faster than in the United Kingdom, big things are coming up for stakeholders in the United Kingdom (Anderson, 2015).Communication is also being used widely to change the perception of people on entomophagy. In 2014, an international market research company conducted a survey of United Kingdom consumers' attitudes towards edible insects and many were willing to try eating the edible insects. Relevant information ought to be put on the packaging of food components with insects. The packaging should show the nutrient contents such as protein and fiber. According to a Dutch entomologist, many people are reluctant to take eat insects due to the mindset that insects are not nutritious and are of no flavor (Mercola, 2013). Therefore, having information on the importance of insects on the packaging materials, the advertisement will help change the relationship of taboo. Media coverage of global edible insects is significantly helping in improving people's mindset and strengthening their skeptics aversion to insects (Anderson, 2015).Changing Perceptions and Uncertainty
Most consumers have the tendency to avoid some foods due to choices which may involve some form of risk. The risk occurs when most consumers have to handle uncertainty, and they eliminate the food product from their purchase consideration. Risk perceptions are defined as individual judgments of the likelihood of facing the consequences and the seriousness of the consequences (Yeung & Morris, 2006). The assessments of the probability of negative consequences are always based on the product information or consumers own knowledge. If information about the product does not exist or is insufficient, consumers will tend to avoid the product, or they will take much time seeking for the information on unfamiliar products. Consuming edible insects is a relatively novel concept in many Western countries (Cederberg et al., 2011) and is related to strong feelings of disgust (Martins & Pliner, 2006).Cultural Differences and Encouraging Entomophagy
Cultural differences affect perception of food consumption. However, eating insects is happening globally (RamosElorduy, 2009) it still remains taboo for most cultures in the developed world (Van Huis et al., 2013). It is important to find ways on how to encourage Westerners to eat insects, however not much have been done by entomologists and anthropologists on how to encourage entomophagy (Shelomi, 2015). Interaction helps in sharing of information and cultures and this can be done through marketing and there is no attempts have been done in the marketing and psychology perspective (Tan et al., 2015). Differences in markets still exist due to factors such as culture, history, and geography differences and lack of interaction between those countries of different cultures. Entomophagy is greatly being influenced by cultural practices, and insects are commonly consumed as part of diet in many nations of the world. In most Western countries, however, people view entomophagy with disgust (Imam, Mazumder, Mallick, Mitra, & Das, 2016). Therefore interaction should be encouraged between countries of different cultures to ensure sharing of information and this will help change peoples' perception on eating of insects as taboo.Changing Perception through Perceptual Cues and Education
Perceptual cues use helps in changing and strengthening the relationship of insects consumption as taboo rather than formulating explicit rules as it helps consumers to develop interests for insects (Golden & Comaroff, 2015). Consumers also need to be provided with educational programs on the benefits of insects. The educational programs can only be effective if consumers have motivation to use and apply the information hence motivation should also be included.Encouraging Consumption through Benefits and Proper Practices
Insects have no health harm on anyone who consumes them but in westernized countries, it's not consumed due to people's perception, attitudes, and unfamiliarity of insects as food. Insects are very nutritious food that needs to be encouraged among all countries. Insects have essential nutrients needed for normal body function and health. It should be included in other food products such as biscuits and be cooked well and delicious to encourage its consumption. Rearing of insects is so easy and does not require a lot of investment compared to livestock rearing. Therefore, anyone can rear insects, even the poorest. In order to encourage consumption of insects and do away with the perception of taboo, industries need to put good manufacturing practices of insect food products. People should be educated on the health, environmental, economic, and social benefits of insects so as to create awareness and solve the dilemma of why eat the insects. Packaging and advertisement of insect food products should have information on the nutrition content of insects and reasons for consumption. Interaction should also be encouraged among people of different cultures to help change the eating of an insect taboo.Reference
Looy, H., Dunkel, F. V., & Wood, J. R. (2014). How then shall we eat? Insect-eating attitudes and sustainable foodways. Agriculture and Human Values, 31(1), 131-141.
Imam, I., Mazumder, A., Mallick, K., Mitra, S., & Das, P. (2016). Diversity of ground dwelling insect fauna in the sacred groves of Purulia district, West Bengal.
Golden, C. D., & Comaroff, J. (2015). Effects of social change on wildlife consumption taboos in northeastern Madagascar. Ecology and Society, 20(2), 41.
