Edible insect consumption and Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards entomophagy

Abstract

Generally, in the world edible insects have gained popularity and awareness among people. Therefore, the study on Turkish consumers' attitudes and consumption towards entomophagy has important findings. The relationships edible insects with sociodemographic effects, demand to eat and personality traits of participants were determined by online questionnaire method. According to the results, most of the participants have not consumed edible insects before and furthermore both male and female consumers were not found to be positive tendency for eating edible insects. The main factors of rejection behaviors are disgusting, food neophobia and some health and religious concerns. However, a few participants have already consumed edible insects and have mainly exhibited this experience in abroad. Thereby, the study suggests that familiarity and awareness are the most significant factors changing attitudes towards to edible insect consumption for Turkish consumers. To determine consumption behavior and preferences of Turkish consumers, the most significant factors are overpassing the psychological barrier such as neophobia and facilitate entomophagy acceptance. This study could enable the development of strategies to increase desire of eating EI (edible insects) by Turkish consumers and promote insect production.