Facing the food of the future

This blog post was written by Eva Speijer, who completed her Master's degree in Biological Sciences: Ecology and Evolution at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She is also an educational employee at ARTIS | Natura Artis Magistra. The photos in this blog post are by Annemiek Verkuil.

Insects are often termed the "food of the future," as they are a healthy and more sustainable alternative to conventional protein sources (Van Huis et al., 2013). Because the global population faces both a health crisis and a climate crisis, the need for such alternatives has never been greater. But are we ready to face this new culinary frontier?

Different cultural perspectives on eating insects

In many cultures, insects are already a staple or even a delicacy, enjoyed in dishes like ant-egg caviar, roasted weevil larvae, and caterpillar popcorn. These delicacies are deeply embedded in the local cuisine. However, in Western cultures, insects are generally seen as unconventional, even disgusting, and certainly not part of the everyday diet (Onwezen et al., 2021). 

This aversion significantly hinders the adoption of insects into Western meals. By understanding the underlying causes of this aversion, we can develop more effective marketing strategies and policies to encourage the acceptance of insects as a sustainable and nutritious food source in the West.

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An evolutionary perspective on insect food disgust

In my research, I explored the evolutionary roots of Western aversion to eating insects. Specifically, I sought to determine whether the disgust response to insects as food is an evolved behavior driven by pathogen avoidance or a culturally learned aversion (Fukano & Soga, 2021; Jensen & Lieberoth, 2019). 

To investigate this, I examined the developmental trajectory—or ontogeny—of emotional responses to insects as food. The ontogeny of a trait provides critical insights into the contributions of both social experience (cultural evolution) and genetic makeup (biological evolution) to its development. If the disgust response is primarily cultural, one would expect it to develop gradually over time, reflecting a learning process. Conversely, if it is genetically based, the response should be relatively consistent across age groups.

A special museum experience

To test these hypotheses, I conducted an age-comparative study in two museums located in Western countries: Groote Museum ARTIS in The Netherlands and Regionmuseet Kristianstad in Sweden. In these museums, I observed how visitors ranging in age from 5 to 85 reacted when they saw insects presented as food. 

I was particularly interested in their initial, instinctive reactions, as consumer choices are often influenced by unconscious processes (Dijksterhuis & Smith, 2005). By focusing on these first facial responses, I aimed to capture a more authentic view of participants' emotional processing when confronted with insect-based food.

The experiment was designed as follows: participants were invited to take part in a study about "the food of the future." However, they were not informed that the food in question was insects, in order to capture their genuine initial reactions. Participants were then asked to lift the lids of four bowls, one at a time, while their facial expressions were recorded. Two of these bowls contained snacks with visible insects. Afterward, participants had the opportunity to taste the snacks, complete a questionnaire, and ask questions.

Measuring emotional responses to insects as food

To analyze the facial expressions, I used FaceReader by Noldus, a technological tool that has proven effective in interpreting facial expression patterns from video data (Schoeps et al., 2022). 

FaceReader is designed for automated analysis of facial expressions in pictures or videos. The software detects and classifies basic emotions—happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, disgust, and neutrality—using an algorithm that examines 468 key points on the face, including landmarks like the eyebrows, eyes, and lips. It then estimates the intensity and probability of each emotion on a scale from 0 to 1.

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In this experiment, facial expressions were analyzed from the moment a participant lifted a bowl until they put it back. The data were categorized based on whether the participant was looking at product with insects or not. The average proportion of each basic emotion per participant was calculated for each category.

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A happy surprise

Surprisingly, the most common facial expression was not disgust, but happiness. Many participants laughed, which might suggest a growing openness to the idea of eating insects. Interestingly, the older the participant, the more likely they were to show a disgusted expression, indicating that the aversion to insects as food might be a learned behavior, rather than an innate one. This supports the cultural transmission hypothesis, which suggests that such aversions are learned over time rather than being biologically ingrained.

These findings have significant implications. They suggest that the negative perception of entomophagy (the practice of eating insects) in Western cultures may be more flexible than previously thought. This insight can guide the development of strategies to promote insects as a sustainable protein source in Western countries.

Improving acceptance of insects as a sustainable food source

The results of this study offer a foundation for promoting the acceptance of insects as food in the West. Beyond insects, these findings also contribute to our broader understanding of the evolutionary and cultural influences on food disgust and dietary choices. Future research could explore interventions that leverage these insights to facilitate the acceptance of insects and other sustainable protein sources in Western diets.

Bug Appétit!

References 

• Dijksterhuis, A., & Smith, P. K. (2005). What do we do unconsciously? And how? Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(3), 225-229.
• Fukano, Y., & Soga, M. (2021). Why do so many modern people hate insects? The urbanization–disgust hypothesis. Science of the Total Environment, 777, 146229.
• Jensen, N. H., & Lieberoth, A. (2019). We will eat disgusting foods together–Evidence of the normative basis of Western entomophagy-disgust from an insect tasting. Food Quality and Preference, 72, 109-115.
• Onwezen, M. C., Bouwman, E. P., Reinders, M. J., & Dagevos, H. (2021). A systematic review on consumer acceptance of alternative proteins: Pulses, algae, insects, plant-based meat alternatives, and cultured meat. Appetite, 159, 105058.
• Schoeps, K., Velert Jiménez, S., Mesa-Gresa, P., Gil-Gomez, J. A., & Montoya-Castilla, I. (2022). Analysing facial expressions of basic emotions with FaceReader: An experimental study.
• Van Huis, A., Van Itterbeeck, J., Klunder, H., Mertens, E., Halloran, A., Muir, G., & Vantomme, P. (2013). Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security (No. 171). Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations.