"Recent efforts to encourage people to eat insects are doomed to fail because of widespread public disgust at the idea, making it unlikely insects will help people switch from the environmentally ruinous habit of meat consumption, a new study has found."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/25/eating-insects-meat-planet
@UnconventionalEmma Seems tractable. Uncooked meat looks and smells absolutely disgusting and the idea of eating a thing cut from a corpse is pretty disgusting, but people seem to have been persuaded that itâs normal.
People were convinced that lobster was a luxury food, even though itâs basically a large insect (and used to be exclusively a poor-person food). Shrimp are very insect-like, yet people eat those in large quantities.
@david_chisnall I suspect you're right, and people's perceptions could be shifted, but it would require a significant investment, and insect-based products are expensive novelties, so there are some structural issues to tackle as well.
Personally, I have eaten plenty of insects. I don't have a problem with it, as long as they're not still moving around....
Iâd use lobsters as the case study to work from. Donât sell them as low-carbon or energy efficient, sell them as a fancy luxury good. Put the price way up. Make eating insects a status thing. Get Michelin chefs to put them on their menus. And then reduce the price later once everyone wants to eat the rich-person fancy food.
Emma the Curious đ§ has moved!
David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)