Department of Food Science and Nutrition, School of Food Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil; Federal Institute of Rondônia, Ariquemes, RO, Brazil.
Plumpton College, UK Centre for Excellence in Wine Education, Training and Research, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Appetite. 2022 Jun 1;173:106001. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106001. Epub 2022 Mar 16.
Insects have attracted much attention as a novel food source because of their environmental and nutritional advantages. In Latin America, some traditional groups consume insects; but the urban areas of Brazil resist adopting insects as food, like most Western countries. Thus, this study investigated the social representation of edible insects to understand the barrier behind this avoidance and to identify their segmentation in the Brazilian population. Seven hundred and eighty individuals were interviewed in all the Brazilian regions. The interview was composed of a word association task, a risk perception evaluation and two open-ended questions about the subject. According to the structural approach of social representation, Disgust was the primary association with edible insects. Three segments of consumers were identified using the risk perception of eating insects. The first segment, composed mainly of young men with higher educational levels, had the lowest risk perception, and the most positive attitude about entomophagy, their associations were also positive, such as Acceptance and Sustainability; the second had average risk perception and neutral attitude towards edible insects, with neutral and positive associations (e.g., Flavor and Culture); and the third, formed mostly by older women with lower educational level, presented the highest risk perception and the most negative attitude, and exhibited negative associations (Disgust, and Fear). The insect consumption in Brazil would be favored by using species of crickets, grasshoppers, ants, and their fried and roasted styles of preparations. Also, participants would eat insects mainly because of survival and curiosity.
昆虫因其环境和营养优势而成为一种新型食物来源，引起了广泛关注。在拉丁美洲，一些传统群体食用昆虫；但巴西的城市地区像大多数西方国家一样，抵制将昆虫作为食物。因此，本研究调查了可食用昆虫的社会代表性，以了解这种回避的背后的障碍，并确定巴西人口的细分。在巴西所有地区共采访了 780 人。访谈由词联想任务、风险感知评估和两个关于该主题的开放式问题组成。根据社会代表结构方法，厌恶是食用昆虫的主要联想。通过食用昆虫的风险感知，确定了三个消费者细分群体。第一个群体主要由受过高等教育的年轻男性组成，他们对食用昆虫的风险感知最低，对食虫的态度最积极，他们的联想也是积极的，如接受和可持续性；第二个群体的风险感知和对食用昆虫的态度则处于平均水平，对食用昆虫的联想是中立和积极的（如味道和文化）；第三个群体主要由受教育程度较低的老年女性组成，他们的风险感知最高，对食用昆虫的态度最消极，对食用昆虫的联想也是负面的（如厌恶和恐惧）。巴西的昆虫消费将受益于使用蟋蟀、蚱蜢、蚂蚁等昆虫，以及它们的油炸和烤制方式。此外，参与者主要是因为生存和好奇而食用昆虫。
