Grasshopper

Challenge

Many Europeans avoid eating insects due to cultural norms, disgust, lack of familiarity, safety concerns, and socioeconomic factors. The so-called “protein shift” encourages the consumption of insects as a protein source and prompts interest in their nutritional and environmental benefits. However, disgust is a strong emotion in this context and even though consumers are aware of their benefits, many people are hesitant to even try insects.

Project Goal

The goal of this project was to explore how insects could be promoted as a food source. We chose “critical designs” as a form to show possibles ways to promote grasshoppers. The goal of this project was to explore how insects could be promoted as a food source. We chose “critical designs” to show possible ways to promote grasshoppers.

Solution

We developed a framework based on an extensive literature review that shows different techniques to “stage” the emotion of disgust which is likely to arise among European consumers when thinking about eating grasshoppers. We conducted two design workshops with design students to explore concrete design concepts. Based on the outcomes we created different design concepts. The concepts address themes mentioned during the workshops including: (1) Expected taste experience; (2) The overall appearance of the grasshopper; (3) Consumption contradicts current eating habits; and (4) Unhygienic association with the insect. The packaging design shown on this page illustrates the possibility to position grasshoppers as an exclusive seasoning ingredient called “garum” rather than the “right thing to eat”.