Insects for Food, A design exploration of changing western perception of eating insects

Abstract

Currently a major part of the world protein consumption comes from the industry of livestock (animals: meat). Unfortunately, meat industry produces terrible environmental consequences and it is perhaps among the most polluting human activities. Furthermore due to the growing population it seems inviable to maintain the production rates of animal products in the future. A possible solution to reduce livestock production while ensuring a diet rich in protein could be achieved by eating insects. Insects generally present high amounts of proteins and lower polluting rates than livestock. A key feature is their feed conversion rate. Insects do not need to keep their body warm so they are much more efficient in converting feed into body mass (food). Despite the fact that insects present a very promising proteins source and are consumed in many other countries, they can be easily rejected as food in Western societies. Food rejection is caused by different factors, but among them, disgust was expected to be the driving one. This problem is addressed through a design exploration about ‘Insects for Food’ and consists of ‘A Design Exploration of Changing Western Perception of Eating Insects’. This encloses a primary exploration of how insects can be accepted while trying to address the motivations of people to make insects, if possible, appealing. This process from food acceptance to food choice is here addressed as food selection This exploration started by looking into topics such as food acceptance, disgust, food choice amongst others in order to gain knowledge for a user research process. This consisted on a sensitizing material (through diaries) and immersions (interviews) of twelve participants. In order to obtain a rich variety of insights different tools were selected and created. The collection, analysis and clustering of these insights resulted in a creation of three different groups called ‘Insight Themes’. These describe possible routes towards insect acceptance and are: ‘Food Acceptance Strategies’, ‘My Food Dreams & Motivations’ and ‘Caring for the Environment & Myself’. ‘Food Acceptance Strategies’ focuses and captures the different strategies people (rationally) develop to accept certain foods. Since food acceptance was determined as the core of this project, this Insight Theme is higher in amount of content. The core of this Insights Theme is, as its names states, ‘Acceptance Strategies’ and it is expanded by insights on distaste, irrational disgust and emotional associations. ‘My Food Dreams & Adventures’ represents the daily aspirations as well as the motivations of people to discover and have food experiences. ‘Caring the Environment & Myself’ illustrates the concerns people have about how their decision affect the environment and their own health. However, people often do not want to make big efforts and often they doubt what the right solution is. All Insight Themes were used for used in two different workshops (brainstorm sessions) to generate ideas and develop design concepts. All generated ideas were classified according to a criteria based on ‘insect acceptance’ and ‘fit for Philips’. Out of this selection and together with the creation of a design vision, three concepts were finally developed: Philips Balance, Terra and Philips Egg. Philips Balance is envisioned as the new generation of current balances placed at supermarkets. This concept provides information related to nutrition, sustainability and cooking to help people to make better choices at the supermarket regarding their personal needs. Terra is a food brand which offers different products containing insects amongst its ingredients. Terra starts by addressing products to increase food acceptance and evolves by fulfilling food aspirations and motivations of people. The third concept, Philips Egg is a kitchen appliance to keep any kind of food fresh, including insects. This concept goes into a future scenario in which insects are completely accepted and are part of our current diet. An evaluation of these concepts was carried on through an online questionnaire which was filled by sixty one participants recruited from Philips Research. The evaluation also gathered information about eating insects through a set of questions and its results invite to think that ‘Insects for Food’ scenario is better than what is was initially thought. Regarding the concepts, the results were solidly positive for the concept Terra, acceptable for the Philips Balance and slightly negative for the concept of the Philips Egg. All insights gathered from the user research as well as from the evaluation of the concepts invites to conclude that disgust is not as important as it was initially believed. This drives to think that even when disgust plays an important role, insect’s introduction perhaps lays on the understanding and creation of products which fulfill people motivations and aspirations with respect to food choice.