The buzzing future of food: Opportunities and barriers for Denmark to normalize insects as a sustainable meat alternative

Insects have been recommended by the FAO as a sustainable food alternative to meat. Despite their nutritional quality and sustainability, most Western countries still see insects as belonging far away from the dinner table. Although still a niche market, Denmark has been at the forefront of innovation and adoption of edible insects. I used integral theory to map out the structural, cultural and personal opportunities and barriers for Denmark in transitioning to this sustainable meat alternative. To do so I used three methods to get a holistic understanding of the problem. Firstly, I conducted a literature review of 30 articles, collecting the opportunities and barriers mentioned to increase insect eating in Western countries. The literature review results guided me for the media analysis as the categories derived were used to find opportunities and barriers within the media. The media analysis covered 48 Danish online news articles and built upon the categories from the literature. The results from the literature review and the media analysis were then used as a basis for the interviews where six industry experts from the public and the private sector in Denmark rated the opportunities and barriers based on their importance in increasing insect eating in Denmark. The results showed that the biggest opportunity across all three methods to increase insect eating in Denmark is the structural opportunity of presenting insects invisibly or mixed in with familiar dishes for higher consumer acceptance, whereas the biggest barrier to increase insect eating in Denmark is the personal barrier of negativity towards eating insects. The results also showed the interconnectedness of the opportunities and barriers and thus the importance of a holistic approach needed to change behavior when it comes to adopting edible insects into diets as a sustainable alternative to meat