Impacts of familiarity and cultural relevance on edible insect products among Finnish and Chinese young adults

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Perustieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2019-05-08

Department

Major/Subject

International Design Business Management

Mcode

SCI3062

Degree programme

Master’s Degree Programme in International Design Business Management (IDBM)

Language

en

Pages

53+13

Series

Abstract

Entomophagy is a small, but growing industry, and as European Union is to loosen its regulation towards new foods, edible insect business is likely to boom in Europe. The situation in Europe, however, is very different from China. Traditionally insects have never been part of European diet and are seen unwanted, even disgusting and harmful things, something to get rid of. China's story is, however, very different. Insects have been part of Chinese diet for hundreds of years, but have disappeared from the contemporary diet In the field of entomophagy (edible insects), the research has mainly focused on the benefits and possibilities of insects as food for humans and feed for animals, and on the risks of the insects eating could have. In western academia the focus has been on the, acceptance of the insect eating and all the factors that contribute to rejection or acceptance of certain foods, such as food neophilia. This study explores the differences between Chinese and Finnish young adult’s views on edible insects, and the effects of familiarity on presences of edible insect products, as well as comments on the possible reasons behind the differences between these two cultures, using Douglas Holt’s Cultural Innovation Theory. The results suggest that Finnish young adults have more open attitude towards edible insects than their Chinese counterparts. Unlike some previous studies seem to suggest, the most preferred form of insect food is not necessarily one where insects are not visible. Visible insects in certain, familiar food items can be more attractive than those where insects are not visible. Reasons behind these results can be explained partly by Cultural innovation model, which could be powerful tool for future studies in entomophagy and advancement of marketing efforts in edible insect businesses.

Description

Supervisor

Vartiainen, Matti Vartiainen

Thesis advisor

Ren, Lisha Ren

Keywords

entomaphogy, edible insects, cultural innovation, insect eating

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201905123027

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[dipl] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI