• To protect the planet, we need to find new sources of protein and insects are one of them, according to our partner The Conversation.
  • Children could play an important role in introducing entomophagy – eating insects – to a country like France.
  • This analysis was conducted by Céline Gallen, University Professor in Management Sciences at IAE Nantes, University of Nantes; Gaëlle Pantin-Sohier, University Professor in Management Sciences at IAE Angers, University of Angers; Valérie Hémar-Nicolas, university professor in management sciences at Université Paris-Saclay.

Producing meat pollutes and requires a lot of space and resources (water, cereals...). To protect the planet, we must therefore find new sources of protein. One solution is to replace, at least in part, meat with insects.

The problem is that insects, as food, are rejected by Europeans and North Americans, who consider them inedible, dirty and disgusting. However, 2 billion humans (in Asia, Africa, South America) eat it regularly.

The most commonly consumed in the world are beetles such as beetles, mainly in the form of larvae (such as mealworm), lepidoptera (caterpillars) and hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants).

Insects are interesting because they pollute less and require less water and food than cows or pigs. They also need less space to be raised and are high in protein.

In recent years, researchers have been studying how to make insects accepted in adults in the West, but few in children. So we confronted children with edible insects to study their reactions.

Ketchup or chocolate insects?

Children can play an important role in introducing entomophagy (eating insects) to a country like France for three reasons.

First, eating habits within a culture change over generations, so young consumers can adopt new practices that they will then pass on to their children.

Then, childhood is a very important period, because food preferences acquired very early persist into adulthood. Finally, children also influence what their family and friends eat. By consuming insects themselves, they could make them want to consume them in turn.

We asked 43 French children aged 8 to 13 about how they felt about eating insects.

In a first study, they had to describe an insect-eating child (his physique, where he lives...), then express how they felt about photos of whole insects (grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms), insects flavored with ketchup or chocolate, cheese shortbread and a chocolate cake containing powdered insects.

In a second study, children were interviewed in groups of two or three. This time we showed them real dried mealworms and a plain cake containing powdered mealworms. They also watched clips from Top Chef in which crickets and ants were cooked and eaten.

Children who are curious but need to be reassured

The results of these studies show first of all that children think, like adults, that insects are not edible in our culture. According to them, insect eaters live in distant countries or do so to survive. Otherwise, eating insects is associated with dirt or disgusting challenges in shows like Fort Boyard or Koh-Lanta.

Before being exposed to insects in the study, most children spontaneously indicate that they would refuse to eat insects because it disgusts them. They imagine an unpleasant taste and sensations in the mouth.

When we show them insects in pictures or in real life, they are more attracted to small insects such as mealworms, easier to swallow than crickets or grasshoppers.

Ketchup or chocolate-flavored insects are a little more accepted because they are tastes they know and enjoy. But the foods they prefer are those in which the insect is hidden, such as cake, because it looks like a "normal cake".

Another important result is that children change their attitude during the study. Observing, handling and smelling real dried mealworms alleviates their disgust and arouses their curiosity.

On the other hand, the children interviewed in small groups of two or three influenced each other. Some eventually agreed to eat insect cake because their friends had tasted it.

Kids also had a greater desire to taste whole insects after watching Top Chef with well-cooked insects.

OUR "FOOD" DOSSIER

This study shows that children in France can finally get used to the idea of eating insects quite quickly. They are disgusted by whole insects but remain curious.

Their interest can increase if insects are associated with known tastes or foods, and if they are consumed in a reassuring situation, with family for example, or fun, during a challenge with friends.

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This article is produced by The Conversation and hosted by 20 Minutes.

  • Sciences
  • The Conversation
  • Video
  • Feeding
  • Insect
  • Child
  • Food crisis
  • Meat