International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 21 (2020) 100211

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International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijgfs

How does it taste? Appreciation of insect-based snacks and its determinants T

a b,∗ b
Clara Cicatiello , Andrea Vitali , Nicola Lacetera
a
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-food and Forest Systems, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis Snc, Viterbo, Italy
b
Department of Agriculture and Forestry Science, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis Snc, Viterbo, Italy

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Entomophagy is increasingly seen as a potential solution to provide a sustainable source of protein. However, the
Entomophagy attitude of Western consumers towards insect-based products is generally negative. This study was designed to
Tasting panel evaluate the liking of four insect-based snacks among young Italian consumers through a tasting panel involving
Food neophobia 62 participants. Two of the products showed the whole insects, while the other two contained insect flour as a
Novel food
main ingredient. The overall liking of the snacks was quite high, with a mean value of 6.48 on a 1–9 sensory
Sensory evaluation
scale; the chocolate bar with insect flour was the most appreciated product (6.95), followed by whole crickets
(6.64), chips containing insect flour (6.33), and caramel worms, which scored the lowest (6.02). An ANCOVA
model was used to test differences in the overall liking against a set of factors, including the features of the
product (sweet/savoury, visible/invisible insect), demographical and behavioural variables, and the Food
Neophobia Scale (FNS). A general distrust over new foods as well as the willingness to know all ingredients in a
food negatively affected the overall liking of the tasted products. The liking was lower for snacks where the
whole insect was visible, while no difference was detected in the liking of sweet and savoury products. Although
strong cultural barriers still exist, young Italian consumers demonstrated an interest in insect-based products.
Further research and communication may help to improve the perception of insects as a food among these
consumers.

Introduction have a high feed conversion efficiency compared to other farmed ani-
mals (van Huis and Oonincx, 2017).
The demand for protein-rich foods continues to rise as a con- Insects have been part of the human diet in the past (Kouřimská and
sequence of the growing global population, and sustained growth of Adámková, 2016), and they are still consumed in Asia, Central and
New World economies is expected to double animal protein consump- South America, and Africa (van Huis et al., 2013). Studies focusing on
tion in human diets by 2050, with respect to 2000 (Abbasi and Abbasi, assessing Western consumers’ attitudes regarding insect consumption
2016; FAO, 2017). Serious concerns have been raised regarding the have mostly delivered negative results, suggesting these consumers are
capacity of global ecosystems to support this increasing pressure, not ready to include insects in their diets (De Boer et al., 2013; Lensvelt
especially considering the already very high environmental impact of and Steenbekkers, 2014; Looy et al., 2014; Vanhonacker et al., 2013).
animal protein production (Abbasi and Abbasi, 2016; Pelletier and However, evidence exists that insects may be an acceptable source of
Tyedmers, 2010). Given the nutritional value of insects and the low food among specific groups of consumers, mainly young males and
environmental impact of their rearing, consumption of insects and in- people that pay specific attention to environmental issues related to
sect-based foods is increasingly regarded as a potential solution to these food sources (Sogari et al., 2017; Verbeke, 2015), as well as in parti-
challenges. The nutritional properties of edible insects are highly suited cular situations such as eating with others and/or sharing a new ex-
to the human diet, specifically they are rich in protein and possess fa- perience (Jensen and Lieberoth, 2019). Low awareness regarding the
vourable amino-acid compositions (Kouřimská and Adámková, 2016) environmental impact of meat consumption still exists in many Eur-
and lipid profiles (Zielińska et al., 2018). However, the nutritional opean countries (Hartmann and Siegrist, 2017), and entomophagy is
value of insects has been found to differ among species as well as not considered to be a reliable alternative yet, as insects are largely
farming conditions (Payne et al., 2016). Insect rearing, sometimes re- perceived to be pests (van Huis, 2013) that negatively affect agriculture
ferred to as “mini-livestock” (Abbasi and Abbasi, 2016), has less en- and other human activities (Caparros Megido et al., 2014). However,
vironmental impact than other protein sources, especially since insects interest in entomophagy has rapidly increased as the environmental

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Vitali).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgfs.2020.100211
Received 7 October 2019; Received in revised form 14 April 2020; Accepted 17 April 2020
Available online 20 April 2020
1878-450X/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Cicatiello, et al. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 21 (2020) 100211

Fig. 1. Insect-based snacks served during the tasting panel. a) Tortilla chips with 15% cricket flour (Acheta domesticus); b) dried whole crickets (A. domesticus) with
salt and vinegar; c) a chocolate bar with figs and 5.5% cricket flour (A. domesticus); d) dried whole mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) with caramel.

challenges of animal protein production become more evident. Cur- investigating their attitudes toward these products is particularly re-
rently in the EU, house crickets (Acheta domesticus), mealworms (Te- levant (Sogari et al., 2019, 2017).
nebrio molitor), lesser mealworms (Alphitobius diaperinus), and locusts One month before the panel was conducted, postings were made on
(Locusta migratoria) have attracted the highest attention, as they are all of the university's social networks calling for volunteer students
under consideration for being listed in the Novel Food Catalogue,1 thus willing to “taste the food of the future”. The posted messages specified
obtaining market authorization. that the tasting panel involved “innovative food products, already on
Previous research has shown the main barriers hindering insect sale in other European countries, containing insects or flour from in-
consumption are a lack of familiarity with these foods (Tan et al., 2015; sects”. This indication was forced by the legal office of the university as
Caparros Megido et al., 2016), including foreign foods in general insect-based foods are not allowed on the Italian market, thus it was
(Cicatiello et al., 2016; Hartmann et al., 2015), their appearance necessary to specify the type of products that would be offered during
(Cicatiello et al., 2016), previous beliefs concerning the appropriateness the tasting session when asking potential participants to join the panel.
of insect consumption (Tan et al., 2016), and product preparation and Planned dates for the panel, as well as age limits to participate, were
presentation (Tan et al., 2017). Despite these conceptions, the sensory also specified in these messages. Volunteers confirmed their willingness
qualities of insect-based products may be deemed satisfactory after to participate in the panel by leaving their email contact after clicking
consumers actually taste them (Caparros Megido et al., 2014). on the links enclosed in these posts.
This study aims to contribute to the research on Western consumer The panel was organised over two days and consisted of five 1 h
liking of insect-based preparations utilising a tasting panel with young slots per day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Booking for each time slot was
participants, conducted in Italy in May 2019, analysing consumer liking closed when a maximum of eight participants was reached, corre-
of four different insect-based snacks and the determinants behind these sponding to the maximum number of stations at the sensory laboratory
opinions. where the panel was conducted. Participants received an email con-
firming the location, date, and time of the panel three days before it was
Materials and methods conducted; an attachment to this communication included an in-
formation sheet listing the products to be tasted, the privacy state-
Recruitment of participants ments, and other information about the organisation of the tasting
sessions. The information sheet clearly specified that people with food
This study enlisted young students (aged between 18 and 35 years) allergies could not participate in the tasting. A total of 62 participants
from a university in Central Italy that enrols approximately 10,000 joined the tasting panel.
students. Young consumers are likely to be more concerned with the
diffusion of insect-based foods in the proceeding years, and thus
Study design and tasting panel operations

1
Available at https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food/authorisations/ The tasting panel contained four insects-based products including
summary-applications-and-notifications_en. two savoury and two sweet snacks. The whole insect was visible in two

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of the products (one savoury and one sweet), while the other two in- personal attitude towards entomophagy.
cluded insect flour as their main ingredient (Fig. 1). The snacks pro- 2. Tasting of four different insect-based preparations served one by
vided at the tasting panel were as follows: one.
3. Completion of an evaluation sheet for each product, which consisted
A. Tortilla chips containing 15% cricket flour (A. domesticus), referred of five items concerning their liking of the appearance, odour, fla-
to as “chips” from here on; the other ingredients were corn, vege- vour, texture, and overall liking of the product. A 9-point hedonic
table oil, and salt. scale was used, with verbal anchors ranging from “like extremely” to
B. Dried whole crickets (A. domesticus) with salt and vinegar, referred “dislike extremely” such that the psychological distance between
to as “crickets” from here on. successive scale points was approximately equal (Peryam and
C. A chocolate bar with figs and 5.5% cricket flour (A. domesticus), Pilgrim, 1957).
referred to as “bar” from here on, which included dates, almonds, 4. Administration of a final questionnaire concerning their overall
figs, dark chocolate, bean and sunflower proteins, honey, fig juice, judgement of the tasting experience.
and natural flavours.
D. Dried whole mealworms (T. molitor) with caramel, agave syrup, and The snacks were offered to each participant in the same order, with
natural flavours, referred to as “worms” from here on. the savoury options (chips and crickets) served first and followed by the
sweet options (bar and worms). All snacks were eaten by hand as is
Single portions of two to three bites were prepared in small alu- intended in real world situations. Subsequent items were served after
minium cups directly from the packaged products (Fig. 1); no further the participant had finished tasting and rating the previous snack.
food preparation was done in the laboratory before the tasting. Crickets Participants were invited to eat a small piece of rusk and to drink some
and worms were the only two products in which a whole insect was water after tasting each snack, in order to avoid the flavour of one
visible. product from interfering with the next. Participants were unable to see
As participants arrived at the laboratory, they were invited to sit at other participants during the panel and were asked to remain silent for
the tasting stations and sign an informed consent form stating that they the duration of the tasting session. Answers to all questions were
had read the information sheet, had no food allergies, and allowed their manually encoded into a database, which was used as a base for the
personal data to be treated for the goals of the research. Before starting statistical analysis.
the tasting session, one researcher made an introduction explaining the
tasting was expected to last about 30 min and consisted of the following
operations: Items on the questionnaires

1. Administration of a questionnaire concerning demographics, food Participants were asked to answer a set of 45 questions in total, of
consumption habitudes, food neophobia, general neophobia, and which 25 items, belonging to five different macro-categories, were
considered for the sake of this study (see Table 1). The five macro-

Table 1
Items of the questionnaires.
Group of questions Item Typea Scale

Demographics Size of city of origin C S/M/Lb

Age N Years
Gender C M/F

FNS I am constantly sampling new and different foods (R) L 1–7

I don't trust new foods
If I don't know what a food is, I won't try it
I like foods from different cultures (R)
Ethnic food looks weird to eat
At dinner parties, I will try new foods (R)
I am afraid to eat things I have never had before
I am very particular about the food I eat
I will eat almost anything (R)
I like to try new ethnic restaurants (R)

Food preferences I like eating offal L 0 = never tried; 1-7

I like eating snails
I like eating raw fish

I check the food safety of what I eat L 1–7

Importance of food appearance
Importance of food odour
Importance of food texture
Importance of food flavor
Prior experience with insect-based products C Y/N

Features of the tasted products Visualization of insect in the product C Y/N

Main taste C Sweet/Savoury

Liking after tasting Overall liking L 1–9

R = reverse idems.
a
C = Categorial; N = numerical; L = Likert.
b
This item was worded as “how big is the city where you grew up?” City size was categorised as either S (small = less than 10,000 residents), M
(medium = between 10,000 and 100,000 residents), or L (large = more than 100,000 residents).

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categories were demographics, items of the Food Neophobia Scale sensory scale, the values were inputted as numerical variables with the
(FNS), food preferences, liking, and information on the type of snack assumption that careful anchoring of the scale, along with the wording
rated in the tasting. of the anchors, guaranteed equal cognitive differences among the va-
With regards to demographics, a participant's age and gender were lues of the scale. The same assumption was made for the other variables
considered along with the size of the city in which they had grown up; concerning liking as well as for all the items of the FNS; this method is
the latter was intended as a proxy for the possibility the participant may consistent with several previous studies that have used the same vari-
have previously had to taste new and different foods. Following pre- ables as numerical factors in different statistical models (Hartmann and
vious studies that have suggested food neophobia may influence con- Siegrist, 2016; Jensen and Lieberoth, 2019).
sumer attitudes toward insect-based foods (Tan et al., 2016; Verbeke, The explanatory factors included the features of the product (sweet/
2015), an Italian version of the FNS (Pliner and Hobden, 1992) was savoury, visible/invisible insect) together with demographical and be-
used to assess the attitudes of participants towards foods they had never havioural variables. Following previous studies on consumer attitudes
tried before. The FNS includes ten items that are rated by the re- toward insect-based products, all ten items of the FNS were retained
spondents on a 1–7 Likert scale based on their level of agreement with among the behavioural variables (Verbeke, 2015).
each statement. Half of the items directly measure food neophobia, i.e. All elaborations were performed using XLStat software, version
the fear of new foods, whilst the other five items are reversed to assess 2016.3 (Addinsoft, Paris, France), after which results and figures were
positive inclinations towards new foods. The reversed items are marked treated in Microsoft Excel. Results of the ANCOVA were expressed as
by an (R) in Table 1. coefficients of the model, and were estimated for all numerical factors
For the items concerning food preferences, liking of unusual foods as well as for each category, with the exception of the reference cate-
was measured through a 1–7 Likert scale similar to Cicatiello et al. gory for each categorical explanatory factor. The parameters of the
(2016). Moreover, participants were asked how much importance they model included the Student's t-test, calculated for each factor (when
attach to the appearance, odour, flavour, and texture of foods in gen- numerical) or for each category (for categorical factors), and the cor-
eral. An additional item investigated whether participants had already responding probability.
tasted insect-based foods prior to their participation in the panel.
The overall liking of each snack offered during the tasting was used
to investigate participants’ appreciation for insect-based foods. Overall Results
liking was rated on a 1–9 Likert scale, with anchors ranging from “like
extremely” to “dislike extremely”. The main taste (sweet or savoury), as Characteristics of the participants
well as whether the whole insect was visible in the snack or not, was
noted in the database alongside the other answers. A total of 62 participants joined the panel, among which 33 (53%)
were male and 29 (47%) were female. Of the 62 participants, 22%
originated either from the city where the university is located or its
Data elaboration close surroundings, 56% came from other areas of the same region, 18%
were from other areas of the country, and 4% were foreign students. As
An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) model was used to study the per the study design, the participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 35, with a
determinants of the liking of the products. This model is an extension of mean age of 24 years (Table 2).
the analysis of variance (ANOVA) model that enables the user to con- Food preferences were investigated by asking participants how
sider numerical covariates among the factors when studying interac- much importance they attach to the appearance, odour, texture, and
tions and relations with a numerical dependent variable. ANCOVA is flavour of food products. The importance of flavour was rated the
commonly used to study the interactive effects in experimental designs highest, receiving 6.50 points on average in a 1–7 Likert scale; ap-
with repeated measures between subjects (Tabachnick et al., 2007), as pearance received the lowest rating with a mean of 4.90.
is the case in this study where individual participants tasted and as- The level of food neophobia among participants was found to be
sessed the liking of several products. quite low (Fig. 2), demonstrated by low values in the items correlated
The dependent variable in our study was the overall liking reported with neophobia and high values in the reverse items (marked with “R”),
for each product. Although liking was measured through a Likert which express an openness towards new foods. Despite this general low

Table 2
Descriptive statistics of the numerical variables considered in the analysis.
Variable Minimum Maximum Mean Std. deviation

Age 18 35 24.01 3.76

I am constantly sampling new and different foods [1–7] 3 7 5.89 1.31
I don't trust new foods [1–7] 1 6 2.36 1.30
If I don't know what a food is, I won't try it [1–7] 1 7 3.62 2.00
I like foods from different cultures [1–7] 2 7 5.84 1.27
Ethnic food looks weird to eat [1–7] 1 6 2.81 1.40
At dinner parties, I will try new foods [1–7] 2 7 5.77 1.21
I am afraid to eat things I have never had before [1–7] 1 6 2.48 1.56
I am very particular about the food I eat [1–7] 1 7 2.89 1.61
I will eat almost anything [1–7] 2 7 6.16 1.21
I like to try new ethnic restaurants [1–7] 1 7 5.78 1.36
I like eating offals [0 = never tried; 1–7] 0 7 3.52 2.36
I like eating snails [0 = never tried; 1–7] 0 7 3.16 2.48
I like eating raw fish [0 = never tried; 1–7] 0 7 5.61 1.93
I check the food safety of what I eat [1–7] 1 7 5.15 1.58
Importance of food appearance [1–7] 2 7 4.90 1.34
Importance of food odour [1–7] 2 7 5.91 1.12
Importance of food texture [1–7] 2 7 4.98 1.54
Importance of food flavour [1–7] 2 7 6.50 0.95
Overall liking (dependent variable) 1 9 6.48 1.55

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Fig. 2. Box plots of the FNS. The crosses indicate the

means, the left and right margins of the boxes cor-
respond to the 1st and 3rd quartiles, respectively,
and the lines within the boxes indicate the medians.
(1–7 Likert scale: 1 = completely disagree,
7 = completely agree).
When the median is equal to the 1st or 3rd quartile,
there is no line within the box.

level of neophobia, the variability of FNS items among participants was might expect, a general distrust of new foods and the willingness to
not negligible, with a coefficient of variation ranging from 20% to 63%. know all the ingredients of a food both negatively affected the overall
The liking of unusual foods such as offal and, especially, snails was very liking of insect-based products.
low, whilst eating raw fish was much more common and appreciated Familiarity with unusual foods, such as raw fish and offal, strongly
among the participants. In response to whether they had prior experi- increased the overall liking of insect-based products; both the sig-
ence with entomophagy, 12 of the participants (19.5%) declared that nificance and the magnitude of these coefficients was very high.
they had tasted insect-based products before. Looking at food preferences, results showed that the more important
the texture of food was rated the less insect-based snacks were liked. No
Liking of insect-based products significant coefficients emerged regarding appearance, odour, or fla-
vour.
In general, the overall liking of products was quite high (Fig. 3), Liking was not affected by snacks containing whole, visible insects
with a mean value of 6.48 on the 1–9 sensory scale corresponding to a or by the main taste of the snack (sweet versus savoury), although a
liking between “like slightly” and “like moderately”. negative trend was seen regarding whole insects that was close to
Among the four insect-based products, the highest overall liking was reaching significance (p = 0.061). Finally, some demographical factors
recorded for the bars (mean = 6.95), followed by crickets were significant in determining a participant's overall liking of a snack.
(mean = 6.64), and chips (mean = 6.33). Worms were scored the Participant age as a coefficient demonstrated a negative effect, sug-
lowest, with an average liking of 6.02. Median values were similar to gesting that younger participants had a higher liking of insect-based
the mean values for worms (median = 6) and bars (median = 7), while foods, although this did not reach significance. The size of the city in
for chips and crickets the distribution of answers was left-skewed, with which the participants grew up also affected their liking of these foods,
a median of 7 for both. Fig. 3 shows the liking of the four snacks, with as a significantly higher liking was found among participants from
the overall liking represented by the right most box and the appearance, medium-sized towns compared to small or big towns (< 10,000
odour, texture, and flavour represented by the other boxes, as in- or > 100,000 residents, respectively).
dicated. Examining products where the insect was not visible, the items
of liking (except for texture) were higher for bars compared to chips, Discussion
including a better overall liking.
The liking of the products' appearance was very low for both Previous studies have shown that the interest in entomophagy
crickets and worms, snacks in which the whole insect was visible. The among Italian consumers is increasing, especially among those who are
liking of the worms' odour was higher than the crickets’, although the more environmentally conscious (Cicatiello et al., 2016). However,
flavour and texture of crickets was rated quite highly. The overall liking tasting items that are culturally and socially considered inedible, such
resulted higher for crickets than for worms. as insects and other novel foods, can be difficult for consumers
(Hartmann et al., 2015) and it requires to overcome deeply rooted
Determinants of liking cultural beliefs (Menozzi et al., 2017; Tan et al., 2015). The students
who took part in this panel can be considered a self-selected group of
The ANCOVA model showed an adjusted R2 of 0.231, and the Fisher “open” consumers, as they voluntarily signed up for the study and spent
test confirmed the significance of the model with p < 0.0001. The about half an hour of their time completing the tasting session. The fact
coefficients of the model are reported in Table 3. that insect-based snacks would be offered at the tasting was included in
Among the items of the FNS, three were significant factors for the the original posting for legal purposes, and thus the participants were
overall liking of the products offered during the tasting panel. As one aware of this when they enrolled. The openness of these participants to

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C. Cicatiello, et al. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 21 (2020) 100211

Fig. 3. (a–d) – Box plots of the liking of the four snacks offered at the tasting panel. The symbols (+) indicate the means, the boxes indicate the distribution of the 2nd
and 3rd quartiles, and the lines within the boxes indicate the medians. (1–9 Likert scale: 1 = dislike extremely, 9 = like extremely).

tasting insect-based snacks indicates they are likely potential consumers roadblock preventing consumers from trying insect-based products
of these types of products. Consistent with the sampling strategy, food (Tan et al., 2015). These results suggest that marketing insect-based
neophobia levels were quite low among the participants. For these products primarily by taste might be a promising strategy (Deroy et al.,
reasons, it could be argued that our sample does not accurately re- 2015). However, these findings do not necessarily indicate that young
present the “average consumer” on the market; however, participants consumers are ready to introduce insect-based snacks into their diets,
cannot be considered “insectivores” (Hartmann and Siegrist, 2016) as but rather that they are open to trying them. Further improvements in
more than 80% of the participants had never tasted insect-based pro- the technological aspects of insect-based preparations are needed to
ducts before. This finding is similar to results from other studies con- promote their regular consumption (Tan et al., 2017). Moreover, we
ducted in Italy (Cicatiello et al., 2016). It should be considered that our must not forget that in Western societies insects are not experienced as
obligated approach limited the attendance of students with stronger an edible food source and social norms concerning entomophagy as-
levels of insect neophobia, therefore further investigations should sociate insects with unclean and health risk (Hartmann and Siegrist,
consider blind calls in order to more accurately examine levels of insect 2016; Hartmann et al., 2015; Jensen and Lieberoth, 2019). Therefore,
neophobia among potential consumers. the tasting of insects may not be considered as “trying new foods” since
Compared to older consumers, young people are more likely to be insects are not commonly considered as “food” to most people (Tan
open to entomophagy (Sogari et al., 2017; Verbeke, 2015). In general, it et al., 2017). The cognitive process required to accept insect-based
is reasonable to think that when consumers can overcome the sense of products may, therefore, be quite different to the process underlying
disgust induced by insect consumption, they may rate the product sa- consumption of other unusual foods (sushi, offal, etc.), as a greater
tisfactorily. These results are consistent with previous sensory studies degree of open-mindedness is necessary to overcome feelings that en-
conducted with insect-based products (Caparros Megido et al., 2014; tomophagy is not socially normal. Marketing communication strategies
Elzerman et al., 2013), confirming that cultural barriers are the main may be helpful in improving this perspective and overcoming the

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C. Cicatiello, et al. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 21 (2020) 100211

Table 3
Results of the ANCOVA analysis.
Factors Value Standard error t Pr > |t|

Age -0.037 0.029 -1.257 0.210

I am constantly sampling new and different foods [1–7] -0.233 0.132 -1.759 0.080
I don't trust new foods [1–7] -0.310* 0.134 -2.314 0.022
If I don't know what a food is, I won't try it [1–7] -0.089 0.064 -1.386 0.167
I like foods from different cultures [1–7] -0.127 0.123 -1.031 0.304
Ethnic food looks weird to eat [1–7] -0.075 0.085 -0.878 0.381
At dinner parties, I will try new foods [1–7] 0.058 0.119 0.485 0.628
I am afraid to eat things I have never had before [1–7] 0.088 0.080 1.106 0.270
I am very particular about the food I eat [1–7] -0.011 0.081 -0.139 0.890
I will eat almost anything [1–7] -0.220 0.142 -1.551 0.122
I like to try new ethnic restaurants [1–7] 0.001 0.146 0.010 0.992
I like eating offal [0 = never tried; 1–7] 0.135** 0.051 2.629 0.009
I like eating snails [0 = never tried; 1–7] -0.019 0.045 -0.426 0.671
I like eating raw fish [0 = never tried; 1–7] 0.306** 0.098 3.123 0.002
I check the food safety of what I eat [1–7] 0.064 0.075 0.852 0.395
Importance of food appearance [1–7] 0.004 0.107 0.040 0.968
Importance of food odour [1–7] 0.220 0.159 1.378 0.170
Importance of food texture [1–7] -0.192* 0.080 -2.403 0.017
Importance of food flavour [1–7] -0.198 0.162 -1.222 0.223
Visualization of insect in the product – YES -0.330 0.175 -1.886 0.061
Visualization of insects in the product – NO 0.000 0.000
Main taste – SWEET -0.004 0.175 -0.025 0.980
Main taste – SAVOURY 0.000 0.000
Gender-F 0.108 0.234 0.463 0.644
Gender-M 0.000 0.000
Prior experience with insect-based products – NO -0.235 0.267 -0.880 0.380
Prior experience with insect-based products – YES 0.000 0.000
Size of city of origin – LARGE 0.095 0.251 0.377 0.707
Size of city of origin – MEDIUM 0.985** 0.297 3.321 0.001
Size of city of origin – SMALL 0.000 0.000

*significant for p < 0.05, ** significant for p < 0.01.

negative representation of insects into consumer's mind (Deroy et al., consumer's expectation, although technological research regarding
2015). these aspects is currently underway and more palatable solutions are
In contrast to the study by Verbeke (2015), our results indicated a likely to emerge in the coming years.
familiarity with ethnic foods was not a significant determinant of ap- Contrary to previous research, beyond the effect of town size al-
preciation for insect-based products. Instead, trust towards novel foods ready discussed above, demographical variables were not found to be
and their ingredients was more important, suggesting that, with regards relevant determinants of the liking of insect-based products in this
to a consumers’ taste for insect-based products, concerns over the study. Including other variables in the model, such as the participants’
preparation, ingredients, and food safety are important (Cicatiello academic course or parental level of education, did not improve the
et al., 2016). Therefore, familiarity with ethnic foods may influence the significance of the model.
willingness of consumers to try these products to a greater extent than it Generally, male attitudes toward insect consumption have been
influences their actual liking of the product. considered more positive than those of females (Sogari et al., 2017; Tan
In contrast, a habitude of consuming unusual foods was found to be et al., 2016), although in terms of actually liking the taste of the pro-
quite important in shaping a consumer's overall liking of insect-based ducts gender does not appear to be relevant. In this study, the appre-
products. Offal is a common ingredient in Italian cooking, especially in ciation of insect-based products was largely similar among male and
classic dishes commonly served by traditional restaurants. This custom female students. With respect to age, previous studies have shown that,
may result in an unexpected effect on the liking of insect-based pro- the younger a consumer is, the more positive his or her attitude towards
ducts stemming from a greater openness towards eating foods with insects as a food will be (Sogari et al., 2017; Verbeke, 2015). This re-
“weird” appearances or textures. The highly positive coefficient of the lationship was affirmed in this study through the negative coefficient
item relating to the size of the town in which the participant grew up in associated with age, although it did not reach statistical significance.
seems to confirm this, as the coefficient was much higher among par- This lack of significance was probably due to the age range of the
ticipants from medium-sized towns where traditions remain stronger participants being limited by the design of the study, leading to low
than in larger cities. Raw fish has recently become a passion of Italian variability in age among the participants.
consumers, especially the young, and there has been a huge increase in When interpreting the findings of this study, some limitations
the number of Japanese restaurants serving sushi and sashimi. This should be considered. Here, we provide evidence concerning the level
suggests that foods previously considered unusual, exotic, and un- of liking (and its determinants) by potential consumers for four insect-
palatable can become popular with a good image and the im- based snacks, in a country where insect-based foods are not allowed on
plementation of a clever marketing strategy (Hartmann et al., 2015). the market yet. In this context, the main barrier restricting the in-
Visualization of the whole insect is commonly considered a barrier troduction of insect-based foods to potential consumers is the lack of
to the consumption of insect-based products (Schösler et al., 2012). This recognition of insects as a source of food. Snacks, which are not sup-
was not confirmed by this study (p = 0.061) even if appearance was posed to make up the main part of a meal, could be an interesting entry-
rated lower for snacks visualizing the whole insects. Here, attaching a point for insect-based preparations in the Italian market. However, for
high importance to food texture was found to negatively affect a par- these types of products, it is very difficult to assign a control product for
ticipants' overall liking of the insect-based products. It may be the case the level of liking to be measured against, especially when dealing with
that the textures of insect-based products still do not match potential foods containing whole insects. Therefore, we cannot exclude the idea

7
C. Cicatiello, et al. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science 21 (2020) 100211

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