Melissa Keresztes, MS, NDTR
▪ Articulate affective responses and
reactions to entomophagy
▪ Identify how cultural constructs and
theory determine acceptance of
entomophagy in various regions
Objectives
▪ Compare various regions where
entomophagy is accepted and rejected,
and describe how optimal foraging theory
can distinguish these
▪ Give examples of how entomophagy can
be a beneficial practice
The practice among people of eating insects
and bugs
▪ Time to share feelings - what thoughts are
conjured up from the picture on the left?
▪ FAO has registered ~1,900
edible insect species
▪ Current estimates are that
two billion people regularly
include insects as a part of
their diet
▪ Least popular regions for
entomophagy are Western
nations (America and
Europe)
The most commonly cited reasons for the intense
dislike of bugs are…
1. Bugs look disgusting
2. Bugs are dirty, filthy, and can transmit disease
*Also Taste
Can you
spot the
difference?
Me neither!
Can you
spot the
difference?
Me neither!
▪ Food takes on many associations with identity, status, and personality
▪ We make inferences about foods themselves, and about people based on their food choices
▪ Making associations naturally leads to making hierarchies – some foods are more desirable
than others
▪ In this context, disgust can serve as a
useful defense mechanism, or boundary
▪ These boundaries extend to food or
behaviors, and protect the social order
▪ This can be a good or a bad thing
▪ As a result of these hierarchies, some
food choices will come to be seen as
“disgusting”, and we create a post hoc
rationale to justify this hierarchy (like
looks and cleanliness)
Theory put forth by Harrison, positing
that food “collection” is a matter of
maximizing the rate of caloric return for
the time spent collecting it.
In other words, humans will actively
gather calories in the most efficient way
possible.
Let’s look at a case study of the Aché
people of Paraguay (hunter-gatherers) and
the food sources they seek after
▪ There are about 16 species of animal the
Aché will hunt/gather
▪ Top of the list are collared peccaries
▪ Midway on the list are palm weevil grubs
(preferable over fish for collection)
▪ The peccaries offer the most calories, but
are hard and time-intensive to hunt
▪ The grubs offer a moderate caloric source,
and can be collected from rotting palm
trees
▪ If peccaries are captured, fewer (if any)
grubs are collected. If no peccaries are
captured, more grubs are collected.
It takes time and effort, but collecting the grub is calorically worthwhile
➢ Big > small
➢ Swarm/clustered > single/scattered
In short:
Where…
+
More
= Entomophagy
Where…
+
Less
= Entomophagy
Why would a person choose this as a food source →
When these are more readily available options →
Crickets
Scorpion
Mealworms
Ants
Mild flavor, typically
paired with chili,
garlic, salt/pepper,
cheese, or
chocolate
Flavor and meat is
compared to a
prawn or shrimp
Said to taste like
roasted nuts and are
usually baked, or
deep fried, or
roasted and
seasoned
Higher acid content,
perceived as having
a citrus-like flavor
▪ The world is growing and going to need more
food
▪ The UN projections for population growth are
significant → thanks to increased income and
standards of living, global population is
projected to reach 9.1 billion by 2050
▪ The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization
[FAO] hypothesizes that agricultural production
worldwide will have to increase by 70% in order
to feed that increased population
▪ Why not include bugs?
▪ Bugs and insects are a complete protein source
(contain all essential amino acids)
▪ Chitin acts as a prebiotic fiber with potential
benefits to health
▪ Highly bioavailable and protein dense
▪ Varies by insect and cultivation techniques, but tend
to be high in B12, vitamin A, Riboflavin, iron,
calcium, magnesium, and zinc
▪ Before you can eat an animal, it needs to gain
weight → to gain weight, it needs feed
▪ Typically, 1 kg of live animal weight in the
United States requires higher amounts of feed
▪ 2.5 kg for chicken
▪ 5 kg for pork
▪ 10 kg for beef
▪ There is a tradeoff in the weight of the animal
compared to the weight of the edible portion
▪ 40% of a cow is considered edible after slaughter
▪ Bugs are far more efficient with feed
conversion
▪ Insects are cold-blooded and
require less food to maintain body
temperature
10 kg
1 kg
▪ Production of 1 kg of live animal
weight of crickets requires as
little as 1.7 kg of feed
10 kg
17 kg
▪ The efficiency is even better
because of edible weight
▪ 80 percent of a cricket is edible
▪ 40 percent of a cow is edible
▪ There is no food cultivation without water,
and animal proteins require lots of water
▪ On average, producing 1 kg of animal
protein requires 5–20 times more water than
generating 1 kg of grain protein
▪ Estimates vary, but up 1,000 to 1,799 gallons
of water are needed to create 1 lb of beef
▪ Water use for mealworms and crickets is
much lower, estimates of 1-3 gallons per lb
of edible weight
▪ They can be reared on organic side streams and insect farms require less cost/input
to get started
▪ They emit relatively few GHGs and relatively little ammonia.
▪ Do not require as much space for cultivation
▪ They have few animal welfare issues, although the extent to which insects
experience pain is largely unknown
▪ Lower risk of transmitting zoonotic infections
▪ Fear Factor. (2013). Fear Factor Moments | Eat Camel Spiders [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foj53AcIkac
▪ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2013). Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed
security. Accessed September 23, 2021 at https://www.fao.org/3/i3253e/i3253e.pdf
▪ FAO (2020). Insects for food and feed. Retrieved from https://www.fao.org/edible-insects/en/.
▪ Harris, M. (1985). Good to eat: Riddles of food and culture. New York: Simon and Schuster.
▪ Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J., & Jones, N.B. (2018). Hunter-gatherer studies and human evolution: a very selective
review. Am J Phys Anthropol, 165(4), 777-800. DOI 10.1002/ajpa.23403
▪ Poortvliet, P.M., Van der Pas, L., Mulder, B.C., & Fogliano, V. (2019). Healthy, but Disgusting: An Investigation Into
Consumers’ Willingness to Try Insect Meat. J Econ Entomol, 112(3), 1005-1010. DOI 10.1093/jee/toz043
▪ Schmidt, C.W. (2008). The Yuck Factor When Disgust Meets Discovery. Environ Health Perspect, 116(12), A524-
A527. DOI 10.1289/ehp.116-a524
▪ EntoMarket (2021). Edible Insect Nutrition Information. Retrieved from https://www.edibleinsects.com/insect-
nutrition-information/
▪ FAO (N.D.). Environmental opportunities for insect rearing for food and feed. Accessed September 26 th, 2021 at
https://www.fao.org/3/i3253e/i3253e05.pdf.
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