To analyse the reasons for acceptance and rejection of insect consumption among urban Mexican consumers based on their perceptions and levels of food neophobia and neophilia.
A questionnaire was distributed online to 415 people. The Food Neophobia Scale was used, measured on a four-point Likert scale, and consumers were grouped according to their level of neophobia. The Free Word Association technique was used to determine participants’ perceptions of “edible insects”, and the words obtained were categorised according to synonyms. The Chi-square test per cell made it possible to determine the statistical significance of each group in relation to the categories and was confirmed by a correspondence analysis. The economic aspects of the groups were analysed using the Chi-square and the Z-test with the Bonferroni method.
Three groups of consumers have been identified: neophilic, intermediate and neophobic. Participants mentioned 1,235 words, which were grouped into 16 categories. For neophilics, edible insects are a familiar product; intermediates are curious and neophobics are afraid of consumption.
The paper contributes to the analysis of the aspects that influence the acceptance and rejection of insect consumption among urban consumers by considering the degree of food neophobia and the participants’ perceptions.
