Insects on a plate: New Zealanders prefer crunch to squishy, ​​survey reveals

According to new research, New Zealanders prefer to eat crunchy insects rather than sticky bugs.

New Zealand insects offer many commercial and nutritional opportunities.
Photo: 123rf

The Crown Research Institute surveyed 1,300 people to determine the native insects they preferred to eat, in order to test the commercial potential of insect-based products.

The survey found that people, when they had a choice, were more likely to eat American locust nymphs and locust nymphs, followed by the mānuka beetle, then larvae of the locust. huhu beetles.

Participants were less likely to eat caterpillars and larvae of wax moths.

Sixty percent of participants thought that eating insects would be more environmentally sustainable than eating meat from New Zealand farms.

Penny Payne, a scientist at AgResearch, who led the survey, said that an insect-based product with clear benefits for the environment and health could be successful in New Zealand .

"However, the insect would benefit from being concealed in the form of a ground powder to reduce the aversion to insect texture and the disgust factor."

Insect products should be marketed in a separate category, said Mrs. Payne.

"Do not try to market insects as an alternative to meat, they are better marketed as a separate category rather than as an extension of the" meat "category, to minimize the expectations of sensory attributes similar to those of meat. "

Jessica Gathercole, an AgResearch researcher, said New Zealand insects offered many commercial and nutritional opportunities.

"The Lincoln-based team on proteins and metabolites is able to compare peptides with bioactive peptides known for promoting health. We have discovered that these insects have bioactive peptides that can help reduce heart disease and help people with type 2 diabetes.

"We also found that, although survey respondents stated that wax moths were among the insects that they would least like to eat, they and the clover's root weevils did not have peptides to bitter taste, which means that they could prove to be the best options for human consumption. "