Exploring entomophagy behavior in restaurants and the influence of social norms

Western consumers are hesitant to adopt insect consumption due to food neophobia and disgust. Existing strategies like familiarity and education have shown mixed results. This research investigates how restaurant menu descriptions can influence consumers' willingness to try insect‐based food by targeting specific social identities. An experimental design assigned 242 participants to a group representing a social identity norm (foodie, nutrition enthusiast, or environmentally concerned) or a control group. Participants read a menu description. The nutrition enthusiast norm was most effective in increasing willingness to try the menu item. Findings suggest promoting entomophagy as nutritious can effectively increase consumer willingness.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal

• Publication date

  2025-05-03

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/fcsr.70018
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Cool or hot: How dietary restraint produces both positive and negative eating behaviors

  2024cited by this paper
• Chew that beat! How music tempo influences eating behaviors and emotions

  2024cited by this paper
• Edible Insects: A Historical and Cultural Perspective on Entomophagy with a Focus on Western Societies

  2023cited by this paper
• Food and Nutrition Literacy: Exploring the Divide between Research and Practice

  2023cited by this paper
• Nutrition and Food Literacy: Framing the Challenges to Health Communication

  2023cited by this paper
• Nutritional aspects and dietary benefits of “Silkworms”: Current scenario and future outlook

  2023cited by this paper
• Acceptance of Insect-Based Food Products in Western Societies: A Systematic Review

  2022cited by this paper
• Agrochemical contaminants in six species of edible insects from Uganda and Kenya

  2022cited by this paper
• Measuring Food Literacy: Progressing the Development of an International Food Literacy Survey Using a Content Validity Study

  2021cited by this paper
• Food enthusiasts: A behavioral typology

  2021cited by this paper
• Insights into the Predictors of Attitude toward Entomophagy: The Potential Role of Health Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Study Conducted in a Sample of Students of the University of Florence

  2021cited by this paper
• Can addressing food literacy across the life cycle improve the health of vulnerable populations? A case study approach.

  2020cited by this paper
• Consumers' Willingness to Consume Insect-Based Protein Depends on Descriptive Social Norms

  2020cited by this paper
• The Effects of Health Consciousness on Environmentally Sustainable Textile Furnishing Product Purchase

  2020cited by this paper
• Communication through Restaurant Menus: Labeling and Psychology

  2020cited by this paper
• We will eat disgusting foods together – Evidence of the normative basis of Western entomophagy-disgust from an insect tasting

  2019cited by this paper
• The relationship between social identity, descriptive social norms and eating intentions and behaviors

  2019cited by this paper
• Healthy, but Disgusting: An Investigation Into Consumers’ Willingness to Try Insect Meat

  2019cited by this paper
• Quality Aspects of Insects as Food—Nutritional, Sensory, and Related Concepts

  2019cited by this paper
• Safety of wild harvested and reared edible insects: A review

  2019cited by this paper
• Willingness to consume insect-containing foods: A survey in the United States

  2019cited by this paper
• Disgust, sushi consumption, and other predictors of acceptance of insects as food by Americans and Indians

  2019cited by this paper
• Entomophagy and allergies: a study of the prevalence of entomophagy and related allergies in a population living in North-Eastern Thailand

  2018cited by this paper
• Are Manipulation Checks Necessary?

  2018cited by this paper
• A short food literacy questionnaire (SFLQ) for adults: Findings from a Swiss validation study.

  2018cited by this paper
• Australian Consumers’ Awareness and Acceptance of Insects as Food

  2018cited by this paper
• Market segmentation of consumers based on their actual sustainability and health-related purchases

  2018cited by this paper
• Targeting Hispanic adolescents with outdoor food & beverage advertising around schools

  2018cited by this paper
• The food neophobia scale and young adults’ intention to eat insect products

  2018cited by this paper
• Edible insects as a means to address global malnutrition and food insecurity issues

  2018cited by this paper
• On the Limitations of Manipulation Checks: An Obstacle Toward Cumulative Science

  2017cited by this paper
• Defining food literacy: A scoping review.

  2017cited by this paper
• Exploring young foodies׳ knowledge and attitude regarding entomophagy: A qualitative study in Italy

  2017cited by this paper
• Social norms and pro-environmental behavior: A review of the evidence

  2017cited by this paper
• Consumer acceptance of insect-based alternative meat products in Western countries

  2016cited by this paper
• The effect of communication and implicit associations on consuming insects: An experiment in Denmark and Italy.

  2016cited by this paper
• An Exploration and Investigation of Edible Insect Consumption: The Impacts of Image and Description on Risk Perceptions and Purchase Intent

  2016cited by this paper
• Just a subtle difference? Findings from a systematic review on definitions of nutrition literacy and food literacy

  2016cited by this paper
• Social Influences on Eating

  2016cited by this paper
• The psychology of eating insects: A cross-cultural comparison between Germany and China

  2015cited by this paper
• Are edible insects more or less ‘healthy' than commonly consumed meats? A comparison using two nutrient profiling models developed to combat over- and undernutrition

  2015cited by this paper
• Emolabeling increases healthy food choices among grade school children in a structured grocery aisle setting.

  2015cited by this paper
• What everyone else is eating: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of informational eating norms on eating behavior.

  2014cited by this paper
• Ingroup favoritism in cooperation: a meta-analysis.

  2014cited by this paper
• Defining food literacy and its components.

  2014cited by this paper
• The Consumption Styles of Immigrant Families in Italy: Identifications, Status, and Practices

  2012cited by this paper
• Social Influences and Eating Behavior in Later Life: A Review

  2011cited by this paper
• Replacement of meat by meat substitutes. A survey on person- and product-related factors in consumer acceptance.

  2011cited by this paper
• Coming to a Restaurant Near You? Potential Consumer Responses to Nutrition Information Disclosure on Menus

  2009cited by this paper
• Making Healthful Food Choices: The Influence of Health Claims and Nutrition Information on Consumers’ Evaluations of Packaged Food Products and Restaurant Menu Items

  2003cited by this paper
• Social Identity and Self-Categorization Processes in Organizational Contexts

  2000cited by this paper
• Measures of Independent Variables and Mediators Are Useful in Social Psychology Experiments: But Are They Necessary?

  1998cited by this paper
• Menu design: can menus sell?

  1995cited by this paper
• A Bayesian Analysis of the Information Value of Manipulation and Confounding Checks in Theory Tests

  1995cited by this paper
• THE PRODUCT ENTHUSIAST: IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETING STRATEGY

  1986cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.