A goal-directed approach to promoting insect-based foods through shared features

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Consumer Psychology
• Sustainable Food Systems

Background:

• Consumer acceptance of insect-based foods is limited, hindering their adoption despite health and sustainability advantages.
• Leveraging similarities between novel and familiar foods can influence consumer perceptions and consumption goals.
• The Shared Features Principle and Goal-Directed Perspective offer theoretical frameworks for understanding food evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if shared perceptual features can transfer goal-relevant attributes (taste, health) from source foods to target foods.
• To determine if this transfer influences the perceived utility of target foods for specific consumption goals.
• To assess the effectiveness of this approach for promoting acceptance of unfamiliar foods, including insect-based products.

Main Methods:

• Two preregistered experiments (N = 341) involved a learning task where target foods were paired with source foods (tasty or healthy) using a shared colored frame.
• Experiment 1 used neutral target foods; Experiment 2 used insect-based target foods.
• Evaluations were measured using goal-specific semantic differentials, behavioral intention scales, and a Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT).

Main Results:

• Target foods associated with goal-relevant source foods were perceived as more effective for achieving those specific goals (taste or health).
• This effect was consistent across self-report measures (semantic differentials, behavioral intentions).
• A similar, though less pronounced, effect was observed on the indirect measure (BIAT).

Conclusions:

• Simple feature-based interventions can effectively shape food evaluations by altering perceived utility relative to consumption goals.
• This strategy can influence perceptions even for foods that typically elicit negative reactions, such as insect-based products.
• This approach presents a novel, potentially scalable method for enhancing consumer acceptance of sustainable food alternatives.