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4 - The Strangeness of Not Eating Insects

The Loss of an Important Food Source in the United States

from Part I - The Strange and the Familiar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2019

By
Julie J. Lesnik
Edited by
Cathy Willermet  and
Sang-Hee Lee
Cathy Willermet
Affiliation:
Central Michigan University
Sang-Hee Lee
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
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Summary

About half of the world’s countries have cultures that include insects in their diets and there are over 2000 known insect species consumed (Jongema 2017). However, there is a notable lack of insect consumption in the dominant cultures of the USA, Canada, and many members of the European Union that is accompanied by negative attitudes, most notably manifested as disgust (Looy et al. 2014). A common question that follows from this pattern is: Why are insects actively avoided in “western” culture? A satisfactory answer has not been easy to come by.

Type
Chapter
Information
Evaluating Evidence in Biological Anthropology
The Strange and the Familiar
 , pp. 71 - 85
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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