| Popis: |
This study seeks to examine the use value conferred on the edible insect Sphenarium purpurascens by consumer segment in the travelling open-air market in the main city of the southern highlands of Oaxaca, Mexico. Consumers were surveyed and classified by monetary income, then segmented into two-stage clusters. Of the 363 individuals surveyed, 79.9% routinely consume S. purpurascens. The top three income quintiles spend 50% more money on S. purpurascens on a weekly basis than the bottom three. In consumer sub-segments of all quintiles, the predominant utility conferred on S. purpurascens is the combination of a satisfying taste and a reproduced consumption habit. Thus, eating S. purpurascens is guided mostly by emotion and tradition; however, the attribution of a nutritional utility to S. purpurascens is an emerging reason that, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent, also influences some consumer segments. Therefore, campaigns to promote and preserve the consumption of S. purpurascens in the urban context studied, which is in the process of a nutritional transition, should consider and strengthen the affective component of anthropo-entomophagy, as well as intrinsic cognitive aspects such as the nutritional composition of edible insects or their low environmental impact. |
