Insects, the next European foodie craze?

Abstract

Edible insects are systematically targeted as a major future food for European consumers but success in introducing entomophagy in Western society depends on factors governing consumers' attitudes towards insect-based products. Effectively, as for sushi in the 2000s, edible insects are considered as new food products in Europe and are deeply related to a fear or a reject feeling by consumers called "food neophobia". Consequently, several studies have been achieved to face the actual aversion of European consumers for insects. These studies principally tried to understand the insect-related neophobia, to highlight positive arguments for entomophagy development and also to test possible ways of integration of insects as food. The purpose of this chapter is to get an overview of the actual literature on edible insect acceptability in Europe to propose conceivable solutions for product development and new approaches for further studies.