5 things food brands need to know about insects
Streetbees spoke to over 1,700 people in the UK, US, India and South Africa about their reactions to the idea of consuming creepy-crawlies — and whether they see the idea taking off or hard to swallow…
Are bugs as a protein source just a fun fad? Or will they wriggle their way into our diets full-time in the future?
We asked our bees what they thought of eating insects and pulled out five key insights that FMCG and food brands need to know.
1. More than half of consumers would give insects a go — or already have
Far from being a totally alien idea to our bees, over half of them said that they’d either already tried insects or would be willing to. Over one-quarter (27%) globally say they had already eaten an insect, with a further 29% ready to give them a taste.
Interestingly, our number of insect-curious bees dropped off significantly in India, where over two-thirds (67%) said they hadn’t tried an insect — and never would!
2. Crickets are the most appetising creepy crawly
According to our bees, crickets top list in overall edibility — followed up by ants and grasshoppers.
Coming in at the bottom of the list overall — perhaps not surprisingly — are flies, spiders, bees and wasps. So, it turns out that butterflies are officially more appetising than bees.
In South Africa, on the other hand, a country where over a third (35%) of people have tried eating insects, mealworms were more popular than ants.
3. 55% of people say that if a major food brand released an insect-based snack, they’d give it a go
Over half of our bees liked the idea of a major company releasing insect-based snacks — though almost half of them did specify that they’d buy it only if they couldn’t see or tell that it was insect based…
4. More than half of people think insect-based foods is no gimmick
When asked if they agreed with the statement that ‘Insect-based food is a novelty — they have no nutritional value’, just 1 in 5 (22%) of our bees agreed, and 26% said they weren’t sure.
Asked about the future of edible insects, almost a third (32%) think they are likely to be a part of mainstream food consumption in just 10 years’ time.
5. Nearly half of people think insects can feed the world
45% of people agree that insects could help solve the growing problem of world hunger — and the younger demographics are more sold than their older peers.
When asked if insects as a food source were a solution to global food shortages, 13% of those under-25 strongly agreed. For those aged 46+, that number drops to 9%.
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK, US, India and South Africa, carried out in March 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 3 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
