Consumers of insect-based foods: a cross-cultural study between Belgium and Gabon

Human consumption of insects has previously been examined in cross-cultural studies. However, such studies rarely include African countries and willingness-to-pay for insect-based food has never been assessed in cross-cultural studies. The current study presents a cross-cultural study conducted with 409 urban dwellers from Belgium (191 males; 218 females) and 412 urban dwellers from Gabon (219 males; 193 females). Each respondent was surveyed with a questionnaire following the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices model and included questions relative to willingness-to-pay for 2 insect-based foods (insect baguette and insect burger). More than 90% of respondents from both countries were familiar with edible insects. However, acceptance of entomophagy was lower in respondents from Gabon than in respondents from Belgium. Intercultural differences were also recorded between Gabonese ethnic groups. Most respondents who accepted entomophagy were willing to eat the insect baguette and/or the insect burger. These findings confirm that entomophagy could further develop in Belgium and Gabon. Willingness-to-pay varied between countries and between insect-based foods. In Belgium, the average prices of comparable conventional foods (i.e., same foods but without insects) were lower than the average willingness-to-pay for insect-based foods. In Gabon, respondents were not willing to pay extra for insect-based foods. Setting the right price for insect-based foods is a necessary step to promote more frequent insect consumption.