Browsing by Author "Salminen, Anni"

The aim of the study was to find out the attitude of the students to the insect food. The research seeks out the factors influencing students' attitudes towards insect food and explains how students feel about insect food in a student restaurant. Previous studies have shown that young adults have the most positive attitude towards insects. Insects as food is also associated with negative images because they are considered as dirty. Consumers are uncertain about their taste and structure. Attitudes towards insects are influenced by past tasting experiences, personal preferences and culture where an individual lives. Studies indicate that student dining can influence students' eating habits. Since the beginning of February 2018, there have been insect food in the student restaurant in Helsinki. I collected the material by interviewing six home economic students at the University of Helsinki. I examined their attitudes towards insects as food. I transcribed my recordings and analyzed the material by searching for frequently recurring themes. I connected theory and previous studies to the themes I found. The students' positive attitude towards insect food was affected by previous tasting experiences, traveling and interest toward other countries’ food culture. Other factors include insect’s ecology and the desire to reducing eating meat and try new foods. Students were concerned about insect’s safety because their appearance and unclear origin. They also caused disgust and suspicion. The students had not tasted insect food at the student restaurant, but they took a positive attitude because of low prices and ease. In their opinion, the range was limited, but the insects used for familiar food were considered a positive thing. The results were mostly the same as in previous studies. Based on this study, at least some of the home economic students have an open mind about insect food and are ready to expand the Finnish food culture.