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Edible insect consumption is a traditional practice in many countries and has the potential to contribute to food security. The aim of this study is to obtain insight into insect consumption patterns amongst rural and urban populations, and into factors that may influence these patterns. For this purpose, a case study was made in Zimbabwe. A literature-based conceptual model indicated that motives for consumption, individual characteristics, consumer environment, availability, food characteristics, and indigenous knowledge could affect edible insect consumption. A survey amongst 200 urban and 175 rural respondents showed that insect consumption was significantly higher in rural (89.7%) than in urban (80.0%) areas. Rural respondents (63.9%) consumed insects more than three times a week on average as compared to urban (14.5%) respondents. Quantities consumed as snacks are significantly different between urban and rural respondents. Taste was the main motive of respondents in both the rural (89.2%) and urban areas (74.4%). Respondents in urban areas more often reported nutritional value (74.4%) and medicinal properties (28.1%) as important motives for consumption compared to rural respondents (51.0% and 15.3%, respectively). For rural areas, socio-demographics did not relate to consumption of edible insects whereas in urban areas, insect consumption was negatively related to education, main livelihood source and monthly income. Availability of edible insects influences both urban (64.0%) and rural (83.0%) respondents’ consumption of insects. The lower consumption of specific insect species in urban areas could hamper the potential contribution of insects to food security in these areas. Therefore, promotion of entomophagy by marketing and maintaining traditional knowledge on insect processing should target urban people through provision of tasty products, communicating nutritional value. . . . . Keywords Entomophagy Consumption motives Henicus whellani Eulepida species Indigenous knowledge 1 Introduction contribute to food security (Belluco et al. 2013;Ghaly 2009). FAO is therefore promoting the consumption of insects Consumption of edible insects is a traditional practice in many from wild harvest or insect farming (Gahukar 2011; African (Van Huis 2003), Asian (Yen 2015) and Latin Hanboonsong et al. 2013; van Huis et al. 2013). The propor- American (Costa-Neto 2016)communities. More than 2000 tional contribution of edible insects to the diets of insect- species of insects are suitable for human consumption world- eating populations ranges from minor to substantial and there wide (Jongema 2017). Edible insects have the potential to can be variation in the contribution to different groups within communities (Raubenheimer and Rothman 2013; van Huis et al. 2013). However, the potential contribution of edible insects to * Catriona M. M. Lakemond food security in continents such as Africa and Asia is under [email protected] threat. A decrease in prevalence of traditional practices of entomophagy has been reported in communities in devel- Food Quality and Design Group, Wageningen University and oping countries where insect consumption used to be com- Research, 6700AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands mon (Dube et al. 2013; Meyer-Rochow and Chakravorty Department of Food Science and Technology, Chinhoyi University 2013; Obopile and Seeletso 2013;Riggi etal. 2016;Yen of Technology, P. Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe 562 Manditsera F.A. et al. 2009). Reasons for this decrease include adoption of 2Methodology Western foods (Dube et al. 2013; Looy et al. 2014; Mlcek et al. 2014; Obopile and Seeletso 2013;Yen 2009) 2.1 Study design and decreased knowledge of preparation practices (Riggi et al. 2016). Other reported reasons include unavailability Data on consumption patterns and traditional processing of the edible insects (Looy et al. 2014), uncontrolled har- of edible insects was collected through a survey. A ques- vesting (Ramos-Elorduy 2006), and loss of habitats lead- tionnaire was administered in three urban towns and five ing to extinction of some species (Dube et al. 2013;Meyer- rural districts of Zimbabwe through face-to-face inter- Rochow and Chakravorty 2013). views between July and October 2015. The questionnaire In developing countries, especially in urban areas and was based on a conceptual model that presents factors younger populations, there is a tendency to abandon the prac- influencing consumption patterns of edible insects as de- tice of entomophagy due to westernisation of traditional diets scribed in the literature. (van van Huis and Vantomme 2014; Vantomme 2015). Also a common belief is that traditional foods, like edible insects, are 2.2 Questionnaire design considered to be primitive and are not accepted by Western communities. This thinking leads to unwillingness of people 2.2.1 Conceptual model used to design the questionnaire to share experiences of these foods (Looy et al. 2014). Multiple studies stress the importance of documenting tra- Figure 1 shows a conceptual model presenting possible ditional knowledge of edible insects to restore and promote factors influencing the consumption patterns of edible entomophagy (Riggi et al. 2016; van van Huis 2015;Yen insects. The model is based on common food preference 2009) and to disseminate information to new consumers, es- studies and literature on insect consumption. Food pref- pecially in urban areas (Gahukar 2011). Traditional commu- erences play an important role in food consumption nities are well-enriched with local knowledge of the occur- (Sijtsema et al. 2002) and can affect consumption pat- rence, methods of collection, processing and consumption terns (Becker et al. 2000; Gerbens-Leenes and Nonhebel (Riggi et al. 2016). 2005), which are defined as repeated arrangements in the Many developing countries are still facing food insecurity food consumption of a population group (Gerbens- despite an abundance of natural resources that can help to Leenes and Nonhebel 2005). In the current study, con- alleviate the problem. An estimated prevalence of 11.0% of sumption patterns refer to which insects are consumed, the global population is undernourished and a higher 12.9% is how much and when. Food preference can be affected by observed in developing countries (FAO 2015). Food insecuri- characteristics of the food itself (such as taste, flavour, ty is not only limited to rural areas but is also observed in appearance), consumer characteristics, such as gender, urban areas (Frimpong 2013; Tawodzera 2011). Rural to ur- age and education (Han and Powell 2013), and charac- ban migration is usually associated with change consumption teristics of the consumer’s social environment such as habits (Frimpong 2013;Puoane etal. 2006). The consumption individual upbringing and religion (Sijtsema et al. of edible insects in many developing countries is documented 2002). Particularly, religion can play an important role for specific insect species. However, to the best of our knowl- in the consumption of insects, and in some religious edge, it is not yet known how edible insect consumption dif- practices, entomophagy is strictly forbidden (Dube fers between urban and rural areas. et al. 2013). The aim of the study was to obtain insight into the Important reasons for consuming insects are sensory/ insect consumption patterns among rural and urban popu- pleasure considerations and health (van van Huis 2013), lations and to study the factors that influence these pat- nutritional value (Kinyuru et al. 2010; Obopile and terns. For this purpose, a case study was made in Seeletso 2013) and medicinal properties (Ayieko and Zimbabwe. Although mopane worms and termites are Oriaro 2008; Musundire et al. 2014a). Other studies the most popularly consumed edible insects in indicate that insect availability influences preferences Zimbabwe (Gardiner and Gardiner 2003; Onigbinde and and consumption of edible insects (Chakravorty et al. Adamolekun 1998), Eulepida species (Dube et al. 2013; 2013; Meyer-Rochow and Chakravorty 2013; Obopile Musundire et al. 2016; Onigbinde and Adamolekun 1998) and Seeletso 2013; Raubenheimer and Rothman 2013). and Henicus whellani (Musundire et al. 2014a, b)are also Also, indigenous knowledge on harvesting and process- commonly consumed in some regions of the country. The ing have been mentioned as factors influencing the current study, next to overall insect consumption, focused adoption and consumption of insect-based food on Eulepida spp. and Henicus whellani, because of their (Gahukar 2011; Kinyuru et al. 2010; Obopile and specific cultural value to local consumers and potential to Seeletso 2013), and this factor is included in the model as well. contribute substantially to human nutrition. Consumption patterns of edible insects in Zimbabwe (2018) 10:561–570 563 Fig. 1 Framework for the design Individual characteristics Food characteristics of the questionnaire on possible Age, gender, education, job Appearance, taste, texture, factors that can influence insect household size, ethnicity smell, safety, nutritional consumption patterns value Motive Taste, Insect nutrition, consumption medicinal Preference Availability patterns properties, (frequency) only food option Social environment of Indigenous knowledge consumer Harvesting preparation Religion, upbringing, family, techniques, storage tradition, household size 2.2.2 Questionnaire Questionnaires were also administered in five rural areas in the Zaka, Bikita, Mhondoro, Seke and Zvimba districts, to a The questionnaire was divided into seven sections. In the first total of 175 respondents. One adult per randomly selected section socio-demographic information was collected. The household from a list of households provided by traditional second section contained close-ended questions related to leaders was interviewed. The rural areas were purposively consumption patterns (frequency of consumption, quantity, selected based on where either Henicus whellani or Eulepida and form of consumption) and possible motives (reasons) species were commonly found and consumed. Zaka and for consuming insects. The third section contained questions Bikita districts were considered to be areas in the Southern about how characteristics of the consumer’ssocial environ- Eastern region of Zimbabwe where Henicus whellani is found ment, including religion, individual upbringing, family habits, and consumed. Mhondoro, Seke and Zvimba were selected and edible insects’ availability influenced respondents’ behav- where Eulepida spp. are found and consumed. iour towards entomophagy. Section 4 includes questions re- lated to the insects’ characteristics. Respondents rated the im- 2.4 Data analysis portance they assigned to the various characteristics affecting their decision to eat insects on a five point hedonic scale. Data from the questionnaire were coded and entered into IBM Moreover, consumers had to rate appreciation of different SPSS Statistics (Version 22, 2013). The data of the respon- sensory attributes (taste, texture, smell and appearance). In dents who actually consume edible insects was used for cal- the fifth section, questions on consumptions patterns were culating the (relative) frequencies of consumption and to dis- asked particularly for Eulepida spp. and Henicus whellani. cover consumption patterns. A Chi-square test of indepen- Only those who actually consumed the two species completed dence was performed to determine if there was any significant these questions. The last two sections solicited indigenous difference between consumption patterns of rural versus urban knowledge on harvesting and traditional processing tech- respondents and any relationship between consumption and niques of these two insect species. demographics characteristics. 2.3 Study area and respondents 3 Results and Discussion Questionnaires were administered to 200 individuals who were randomly selected and had agreed to be interviewed at 3.1 Insect consumption patterns several market places and shopping centres in three urban areas: Harare (n = 80), Masvingo (n = 60) and Marondera A greater percentage of the rural respondents (89.7%) com- (n = 60). Masvingo and Marondera were purposively selected pared to urban respondents consumed at least one type of because these towns are close to rural areas where Henicus edible insect. However, the consumption habit was also high whellani and Eulepida species are commonly found. The as- among urban respondents (80.0%) (χ2 = 6.736, df =1, p = sumption is that people living in these cities are embedded in a 0.009) (Table 1). This suggests that most respondents con- culture where these insects are considered a local speciality. sumed at least one edible insect species, but not necessarily 564 Manditsera F.A. et al. Table 1 Frequencies (as percentage) of the edible insect consumption from the wild will not sustain entomophagy and suggested a patterns of urban and rural during insect harvest season need for considering rearing of targeted species. Table 1 also shows how insects are consumed (meal type) Urban Rural and quantities consumed. The most common way of consum- Overall consumption patterns n =200 n =175 ing edible insects in both rural and urban areas is as a relish Consumers 80.0 89.7 and/or as a snack. Relish refers to a side dish taken together Non-consumers 20.0 10.3 with the staple food (such as thick maize porridge called Frequency of consumption n =159 n =155 sadza). In this study, a snack refers to consumption of insects Greater than 3 times/week 14.5 63.9 as a leisure activity rather than as a meal. More rural (77.1%) 1–2 times/ week 37.1 29.7 than urban (61.9%) respondents consumed insects only as a 1–4 times a month 24.5 5.2 relish (χ =8.616, df =1, p = 0.003). Most of the insect con- Less than once a month 23.9 1.3 suming respondents in the urban (70%) and rural (79%) areas Meal type n =160 n =157 eat edible insects as snacks. Although there was no significant * 2 As relish 61.9 77.1 difference in consuming edible insects as snacks (χ =3.360, In combination with other relish 31.6 48.4 df =1, p = 0.067), the consumed quantities as snacks differed Snack 70.0 79.0 significantly between the rural and urban respondents (χ = Quantities consumed 20.552, df =2, p < 0.001). Amongst the urban and rural re- As relish n =99 n =121 spondents who eat insects as a relish, 55.6% and 46.3%, re- spectively, eat one cup. The quantities were lower when re- Less than 1 cup 21.2 33.9 Equivalent to 1 cup 55.6 46.3 spondents consumed insects in combination with other rel- ishes for both urban (63.3%) and rural (72.4%) respondents. More than one cup 23.2 19.8 However, there was no significance difference between urban As combination with other relish n =49 n =76 and rural for quantities consumed as a relish (χ =4.325, df = Less than 1 cup 63.3 72.4 2, p = 0.115) and also when consumed in combination with Equivalent to 1 cup 24.5 17.1 other relishes (χ =1.250, df =2, p = 0.535). A cup contains More than one cup 12.2 10.5 between 50 and 75 g approximately of dried insects, depend- n =112 n =124 As snack ing on the type of insect. Less than 1 cup 52.7 55.6 Tables 2 and 3 show that in both the urban and rural areas, Equivalent to 1 cup 37.5 16.1 fewer than 50% of the respondents consumed Eulepida spp. More than one cup 9.8 28.2 and Henicus whellani. Eulepida spp. are consumed to a great- a b All values represents %, more than one answer possible, * significant- er extent in both the urban (35.5%) and rural (48%) areas than ly different between urban and rural Henicus whellani in urban (8.5%) and rural areas (41.1%). The frequency of consumption of Eulepida species is 1–2 different types of insects. The results are in line with previous times a week for the urban (45.7%) and rural (42.0%) respon- research, which observed that entomophagy is a common dents. In the rural areas, 67.6% of the respondents eat Henicus practice in Zimbabwe (DeFoliart 1997;Dubeetal. 2013; whellani more than three times a week, whereas, 46.7% of the Musundire et al. 2016). The data on consumption frequencies urban consumer respondents consume this insect 1–2times a shows that a significantly higher percentage (63.9%) of the week. Eulepida species are mostly consumed as snacks in rural respondents consumed edible insects more than three both urban (80.0%) and rural (83.8%) areas. A different pat- times a week on average when it is insect harvest season tern exists for Henicus whellani, which are mainly consumed compared with urban respondents (14.5%) (χ = 101.766, df- as a relish and snack in both urban (53.3%: 53.3%) and rural =3, p <0.001). (83.1%; 88.7%, respectively) areas. Consumers of Eulepida The difference in frequency of consumption and quantities species mostly take quantities of less than one cup for all meal consumed between urban and rural respondents was expected types. since most of the edible insects are harvested in the wild and Differences in the consumption of Eulepida species and availability is an important factor in their consumption Henicus whellani, as compared to general consumption, could (Meyer-Rochow and Chakravorty 2013). Rural communities be attributed to people preferring different insect species and have greater access to insects, especially to species harvested ease of access. Differences in preferences and prevalence of exclusively from the forests. On the other hand, urban people consumption of specific species have also been attributed to obtain most of their edible insects from markets. Harvesting availability (Niaba et al. 2012; Obopile and Seeletso 2013; and marketing edible insects are contributing to the van van Huis 2013), ethnicity (Chakravorty et al. 2011; improvement of livelihoods for some rural communities. Obopile and Seeletso 2013; Riggi et al. 2016), palatability Van van Huis (2013) highlighted that collection of insects (Chakravorty et al. 2013) and seasonality (Kinyuru et al. Consumption patterns of edible insects in Zimbabwe (2018) 10:561–570 565 Table 2 Frequencies (as percentages) of consumption patterns for Table 3 Frequencies (as percentage) of consumption patterns for Eulepida species of urban and rural during insect harvest season Henicus whellaniof urban and rural during insect harvest season Urban Rural Urban Rural Overall consumption patterns for Eulepida species* n =200 n =175 Overall consumption patterns for Henicus whellani* n =200 n =175 Consumers 35.5 48.0 Consumers 8.5 41.1 Non-consumers 64.5 52.0 Non-consumers 91.5 58.9 Frequency of consumption n =70 n =81 Frequency of consumption*n =15 n =71 Greater than 3 times 22.9 42.0 Greater than 3 times 26.7 67.6 1–2 times a week 45.7 42.0 1–2 times a week 46.7 25.4 1–4 times a month 20.0 6.1 1–4 times a month 13.1 4.2 Less than once a month 11.4 9.9 Less than once a month 13.1 2.8 b b Meal type n =70 n =81 Meal type n =15 n =71 As relish 15.7 15.0 As relish* 53.3 83.1 In combination with other relish 32.9 33.8 In combination with other relish* 20.0 29.6 Snack 80.0 83.8 Snack* 53.3 88.7 Quantities consumed: Quantities consumed As relish n =11 n =12 As relish n =8 n =59 Less than 1 cup 63.6 75.0 Less than 1 cup 25.0 39.0 Equivalent to 1 cup 27.3 25.0 Equivalent to 1 cup 37.5 40.7 More than one cup 9.1 0 More than one cup 37.5 20.3 As combination with other relish n =23 n =27 As combination with other relish n =3 n =21 Less than 1 cup 69.6 85.2 Less than 1 cup 63.3 71.4 Equivalent to 1 cup 13.0 11.1 Equivalent to 1 cup 24.5 23.8 More than one cup 17.4 3.7 More than one cup 12.2 4.8 As snack* n =56 n =67 As snack* n =8 n =63 Less than 1 cup 58.9 58.2 Less than 1 cup 52.7 63.5 Equivalent to 1 cup 33.9 14.9 Equivalent to 1 cup 37.5 15.9 More than one cup 17.2 26.9 More than one cup 9.8 20.6 b b * significant difference between urban and rural, more than one answer * significant difference between urban and rural, more than one answer possible possible N.B Except in overall consumptions, n represents the number of consum- N.B Except in overall consumptions, n represents the number of consum- er respondents in each category given er respondents in each category given (Obopile and Seeletso 2013; Riggi et al. 2016). Likewise, the 2010; Kinyuru et al. 2013). Hanboonsong et al. (2013)report- expectation that due to increased migration from rural to urban ed different insect eating habits due to availability of different areas the consumption of traditional foods (under which edible species in different regions. Likewise, in the current study, the insects are classified) would be abandoned, was not con- higher prevalence of consumption of Eulepida species is prob- firmed. Puoane et al. (2006) argued that people do not ably because this species is prevalent in many regions of completely lose their culture but adhere to old traits, despite Zimbabwe. Henicus whellani is commonly present only in adoption of Western diets. However, a lower frequency of the South Eastern region of Zimbabwe. Eulepida species is consumption in urban areas could be pointing to a decline of therefore consumed more than Henicus whellani in the urban entomophagy, a trend that may continue if not addressed. areas. Urban consumers usually obtain these insects from in- formal markets and as gifts from rural folk, who harvest and prepare the insects and market them dried or ready to eat. 3.2 Motives for consuming edible insects This study revealed that overall the consumption of insects in urban and rural areas is relatively high (>80%) although Table 4 shows that the major motives for consuming edible consumption patterns vary with species. The significant (but insect for both urban and rural respondents are taste (74.4% small) differences in percentage of respondents consuming and 89.2%, respectively) and nutrition (74.4% and 51.0% re- insects in urban and rural areas can be an indication that en- spectively). Various studies in other developing countries re- tomophagy is not declining in either urban or rural areas in port that taste is as a major motive for insect consumption Zimbabwe, as suggested by other authors for other countries (Ayieko and Oriaro 2008; Obopile and Seeletso 2013). 566 Manditsera F.A. et al. Table 4 Frequencies (%) of different motives for edible insect nutritional value (χ2 = 18.600, df =1, p < 0.001) and medici- consumption in urban and rural areas of Zimbabwe (more than one nal properties (28.1%) as important motives compared to re- answer category was possible) spondents from the rural areas (51.0% and 15.3%, respective- Motive Urban (n = 160) Rural (n =157) ly). In the rural areas, 14.0% of the respondents consume insects because they are the only food option. This percentage Taste* 74.4 89.2 is relatively low and confirms that respondents did not per- Nutrition* 74.4 51.0 ceive entomophagy as necessary because of lack of food but Medicinal properties* 28.1 15.3 rather as a tradition. Furthermore, in rural areas, consumption Only food option* 3.1 14.0 of insects is an opportunity to break the monotony of available Other reasons* 6.9 14.6 relishes. Some respondents considered certain types of insects, such as mopane worms and termites as delicacies. *Significance difference between urban and rural However, Obopile and Seeletso (2013) found, in their study in 3.3 Influence of characteristics of the consumers Botswana, that nutritional value was not the major reason for on consumption patterns consuming insects since only 5% of their respondents indicat- ed this motive. It is relevant to note that whilst respondents All socio-demographic characteristics, except gender, differed consume insects for their nutritional value, they do so because significantly between the urban and rural respondents they perceive insects as high value nutritional food. They do (Table 5). Most of the respondents in urban (54.5%) and rural not know exact nutritional values, rather they generalise that (62.3%) areas were female. In Zimbabwe, the male to female insects are rich in protein and health promoting components. ratio is 48.1 to 51.9 both in rural and urban areas (ZIMSTAT). Respondents in urban areas more often (74.4%) reported The respondents that consumed insects most were older than Table 5 Characteristics of the a a Urban: n =200 (n =160) Rural: n =175 (n =157) urban and rural respondents Age group ≥18 0(0) 0.6(0.6) 19–29 21.5 (20) 12 (11.5) 30–39 30.5 (28.1) 21.7 (21.0) 40–49 32.0 (35.6) 13.1 (12.7) > 50 16 .0(16.3) 52.6 (54.1) Gender Males 45.5 (46.3) 37.7 (40.1) Females 54.5 (53.8) 62.3 (59.9) Level of education No education 1.0 (1.3) 8.6 (8.9) Primary level 9.0 (7.5) 40.6 (41.4) Secondary level 44.5 (40.0) 45.1 (44.6) Vocational training 8.0 (7.5) 0.6 (0.6) Tertiary 37.5 (43.8) 5.1 (4.5) Main source of livelihood Formal employment 43.5 (46.3) 7.4 (7.0) Informal 34.0 (35.0) 12.0 (11.5) Subsistence farming 3.5 (3.8) 69.7 (70.1) Commercial farming 4.5 (5.6) 1.1 (1.3) Casual labour 2.5 (2.5) 2.3 (1.9) Remittances 1.5 (0.6) 0 (0) Petty trade 5.0 (1.3) 1.1 (1.3) Pension 0 (0) 1.7 (1.9) Other 5.5 (5) 4.6 (5.1) Monthly income (US$) < 100 9.5 (9.4) 64.0 (65.0) 100–199 19.5 (14.4) 20.0 (19.0) 200–350 22.5 (23.1) 9.1 (8.9) 351–450 13.5 (15) 4.0 (3.2) 451–600 13.5 (16.9) 1.7 (1.9) 601–800 9.0 (7.5) 0.6 (0.6) 801–1000 6.5 (8.1) 0.6 (0.6) > 1000 6.0 (5.6) 0 (0) The values between brackets represents characteristics of the respondents who actually consume edible insects *Significance difference between urban and rural Consumption patterns of edible insects in Zimbabwe (2018) 10:561–570 567 Table 6 Frequencies 50 years in rural areas and they were between 40 and 49 years Food characteristic Urban Rural (%) of respondents rating in urban areas. The majority of the respondents in rural areas the importance of food depend on subsistence farming (69.7%) with a monthly in- Taste 95.6 92.3 characteristics in come of less than US$100 (64.0%). deciding to eat edible Texture 76.8 79.8 insects For the respondents in the rural areas, no significant asso- Apperance 54.9 76.8 ciations between consumption of edible insects and socio- Smell 56.6 71.8 demographic variables were found. For urban areas, there Safety 61.5 61.3 was a significant negative association between consumption Nutritional value 88.5 60.7 and education (χ2 = 14.724, df =4, p = 0.005), main source of livelihood (χ2 = 30.966, df=7, p < 0.001), and monthly in- come (χ2 = 24.449, df=7, p = 0.001). The three characteris- value (88.5%) as an important attribute. The results comple- ment those on motives for consumption, which showed taste tics were closely related. In urban areas there was a tendency for higher consumption of meat as a source of protein-rich and nutritional value being major motives for consuming ed- ible insects in urban areas. foods with higher income (Puoane et al. 2006). 3.4 Characteristics of the social enviroment 3.6 Traditional knowledge of harvesting of consumers and processing techniques for Eulepida species and Henicus whellani Religion can play an important role in preference and About 35% of the urban and 39% of the rural respondents consumption of insects (Chakravorty et al. 2013;van Huis et al. 2013). About 21.7% of urban and 8.7% of indicated that they had knowledge of harvesting and process- rural respondents are strictly forbidden from eating edible ing techniques for Eulepida spp. and 42% of rural but only 3% insects by their religion. On the other hand, 6.1% of the of urban respondents knew how to harvest and process urban and 22.1% of the rural respondents’ religion make Henicus whellani for consumption. The number of them selective of the edible insects they eat. In respondents with knowledge of insect processing was Zimbabwe, 84% of the population are Christian comparable with the number of consumers of the specific (ZIMSTAT) and in this study 91.9% and 94.2% of urban species. The similarity in percentage of the knowledgeable and rural respondents, respectively, were Christian, al- urban compared with rural respondents can be attributed to the former having a rural background and family habits of though they belonged to different churches. The churches have different doctrines and differ in their views on the consuming such insect species. The lower percentage of respondents with knowledge of processing might be because consumption of insects. While most traditional and pentecoastal churches are not prohibitive of insect con- of lack of traditional knowledge or because they were not used sumption, the Apostolic churches strictly or selectively to consuming insects at all. Yen (2009) proposed that forbid consumption of insects. These sects believe that obtaining knowledge and support from traditional societies some insects are ‘unclean’, hence shouldn’t be consumed. is important to advancing entomophagy. Knowledge of tradi- However, some respondents do not strictly adhere to their tional systems can contribute to improvement of food and church’s doctrines and do consume some edible insects. nutrition security (Alonso 2015). The preferred method of harvesting Eulepida spp. is by About 64% of the urban and 83% of the rural respondents reported that availability of edible insects influenced con- shaking host trees on which they are found and picking them from the ground by hand into harvesting containers. The sumption, but most of the urban (>80%) and rural (>80%) respondents believed that their upbringing was the major Table 7 Frequencies % of consumers appreciating the food influence and that eating insects was a family habit. characteristics of edible insects, Eulepida species and Henicus whellani when eating 3.5 Rated importance of food characteristics of edible insects Food Characteristic Edible insects Eulepida Henicus species whellani Taste was the most important attribute of edible insects that the Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural urban (95.6%) and rural (92.3%) respondents considered in deciding to consume them (Table 6) and this was true for Taste 98.8 98.7 97.1 93.1 93.8 97.1 consumers of Eulepida spp. and Henicus whellani as well, Texture 75.6 78.7 81.4 82.7 87.5 74.3 who particularly appreciated taste and texture (Table 7). For Smell 62.0 82.6 52.9 75.0 75.0 70.0 both insect species, salty taste and dry and crunchy texture Apperance 61.9 78.7 67.1 72.5 81.3 68.6 were preferred. Moreover, urban respondents rated nutritional 568 Manditsera F.A. et al. Acknowledgements We are thankful to Netherlands Fellowship common methods for harvesting Henicus whellani is Programme for the financial assistance (CF9421/2014). We also thank collecting the insects after rains or by digging them from their all the participants who took part in the survey. burrows. In general, there is considerable variation in the pro- cessing of species before consumption. Boiling and roasting Compliance with ethical standards are common but there is variation in the time of boiling and amount of water used. For long storage, such as required for Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest. marketing, sun drying is the common method. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http:// 3.7 Conclusions and recommendations creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appro- priate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Consumption of edible insects is still prevalent in both urban Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. and rural areas of Zimbabwe, although consumption of partic- ular species such as Eulepida spp. and Henicus whellani is low compared to other more popular insect species such as mopane worms and termites. The most common way of eating insects is References as a relish or snack. Frequency of consumption is higher in the rural than urban areas. Edible insects are not Bjust eaten^ when Alonso, E. D. (2015). The impact of culture, religion and traditional it is the only food option. 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Food Security, 5(6), 817–824. study is in collaboration with Chinhoyi University of Technology. Onigbinde, A. O., & Adamolekun, B. (1998). The nutrient value of Imbrasia belina Lepidoptera: Saturnidae (madora). Central African JournalofMedicine, 44(5), 125–127. Puoane, T., Matwa, P., Bradley, H., & Hughes, G. (2006). Socio-cultural Factors Influencing Food Consumption Patterns in the Black African Population in an Urban Township in South Africa. Human Catriona Lakemond graduated in Ecology Special Issue, 14,89–93. Food Science and Technology at Ramos-Elorduy, J. (2006). Threatened edible insects in Hidalgo, Mexico Wageningen University (WUR), and some measures to preserve them. Journal of Ethnobiology and the Netherlands. She received a Ethnomedicine, 2,51. PhD on her work on soy proteins Raubenheimer, D., & Rothman, J. M. (2013). Nutritional ecology of in the Food Chemistry group of entomophagy in humans and other primates. Annual Review of WUR. After performing several Entomology, 58,141–160. post doc positions, she became Ri ggi, L. G., Veronesi, M., Goergen, G., MacFarlane, C., & Verspoor, R. an assistant professor at the group L. (2016). Observations of entomophagy across Benin – practices Food Quality and Design of and potentials. Food Security, 8(1), 139–149. WUR. Her research focusses on Sijtsema, S., Linnemann, A., van Gaasbeek, T., Dagevos, H., & Jongen, alternative protein sources, i.e. in- W. (2002). Variables influencing food perception reviewed for sect as a sustainable food source. consumer-oriented product development. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 42(6), 565–581. Stack, J., Dorward, A., Gondo, Frost, P., Taylor, F., Kurebgaseka, N., Gwawuya, S., Musitini, T., Rutamaba, W., Tlotlego, S. and Zhou, R. (2003). Mopane worm utilisation and rural livelihoods in Southern 570 Manditsera F.A. et al. Vincenzo Fogliano graduated in Zimbabwe, published with Chinhoyi University of Technology Printers, Chemistry at the University of Zimbabwe. He has published more than 20 scientific journal articles of Rome and received a PhD in which half are on marginalized food sources of Zimbabwe. Food Science at Corvinus University of Budapest. He held various positions in Biochemistry and Food Chemistry at the univer- sities of Rome and Naples. In 2013 he became Professor and chair of Pieternel Luning studied Food the Food Quality Design Group at Chemistry and Microbiology at the University of Wageningen, Wageningen University. She The Netherlands. His activity is worked as a post graduate on a on the Maillard reaction, the de- flavour project followed by func- sign of functional food containing tioning as project manager at the dietary fibre, proteins and phyto- Food & Biobased Research, chemicals from different sources. He acted as coordinator of FP7 EU pro- where she did her PhD on flavour jects, COST action and strategic national cluster projects. Vincenzo was of fresh and processed bell pep- President of the International Maillard Reaction Society up to 2012 and is a pers. Thereafter, she worked as member of the advisory board of ILSI Europe. He is the author of more a post-doc in flavour research for than 250 publications (h index of 46), being among the world’s highly cited Unilever V laardingen. scientists according to the ISI Thompson list (www.highlycited.com). Subsequently, she was employed as product Manager BInnovative Packaging^ at TNO Research and Nutrition Institute. Since 1999, she has been engaged in the ‘Food Quality & Design’ group at Wageningen University, and became Associate Professor in 2006. She is a permanent member of the program Cuthbert Johnson Zvidzai is a committee board Food Quality Management & Food Safety. Since 2006, renowned biotechnologist with she has developed an interdisciplinary research program in Food Quality extensive and immense academic Management, with a techno-managerial approach in research methodol- as well as research collaborations ogy. She is the author of two books about ‘Food Quality Management; with local and international uni- technological and managerial principles and practices’ and editor of the versities stretching for over book ‘Safety in agrifood chains’. She is also the author of multiple sci- 15 years. His research areas of in- entific articles and book chapters. terests entail fermentation, ther- mophilic microbial biotechnolo- gy, microbial physiology, molec- ular biology and extracellular en- zyme production Other current areas of research involve use of food wastes as sources of the de- sign of microbial medium formu- lae and insect entomophagy. He contributed to a book on edible insects of
Food Security – Springer Journals
Published: May 12, 2018
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