44% of Canadians surveyed would try insects - as long as they cannot see them

Two-thirds of people surveyed said they would consider eating a baked good made with cricket flour. Almost half would try a cricket protein bar. But show them a muffin with visible larvae in it, and 82% said no thanks.

These numbers come from a study by Concordia University researchers who approached 252 adults visiting the Montreal Insectarium between October 2024 and February 2025. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, offer a detailed snapshot of where Canadians stand on entomophagy - the practice of eating insects - and the results suggest that the path to acceptance runs through the flour mill, not the display case.

Curiosity versus disgust

The strongest motivator for trying insect-based food was simple curiosity, cited by nearly 42% of respondents. Health and nutritional benefits came next, followed by environmental sustainability and taste. On the other side of the ledger, disgust dominated: 70% of respondents named it as the primary barrier. Fear of the insects themselves, safety concerns, and health worries trailed behind.

The overall willingness numbers were moderate. Some 44% of respondents said they were open to trying insects, but only 27% would incorporate them into their regular diet. That gap - between willingness to experiment once and willingness to change eating habits permanently - is the central challenge for anyone trying to normalize insect protein in North American food systems.

Who is more open

Demographics mattered. Men were more willing than women to consume insect-based food and were more likely to have already tried it. Education played a role too: participants with graduate degrees were more likely to experiment with insect-based ingredients at home. Among women specifically, prior insect consumption increased with education level. Age, interestingly, was not a consistent predictor of willingness.

The study's lead researcher, Nadezhda Velchovska, an Honours undergraduate in Concordia's Department of Psychology, conducted the survey using structured online questionnaires. Her supervisor, Rassim Khelifa, an assistant professor of biology, provided the ecological context for the findings.

The visibility problem

Perhaps the most actionable finding for the food industry is the overwhelming preference for invisible insects. A full 87% of respondents preferred products where the insect component was not visible. Cricket flour baked into bread? Acceptable. Whole crickets on a plate? Much less so.

This aligns with what food scientists and marketers have observed elsewhere: the psychological barrier to entomophagy in Western cultures is primarily about form, not substance. People are far more willing to consume insect protein when it is processed into a familiar format - powder, flour, protein bars - than when it arrives looking like an insect.

The environmental arithmetic

The case for insect farming extends beyond protein production. Khelifa pointed out that insects could help address Canada's food waste problem - roughly 40% of food produced in the country goes to waste. Feeding that waste to insects converts it into usable protein and fertilizer (insect excretions are nutrient-rich). The protein does not even need to go directly to human plates: it could serve as feed for chicken, pigs, and aquaculture, integrating insects into the food system indirectly.

The greenhouse gas arithmetic also favors insects. Cricket farming produces a fraction of the emissions associated with cattle or pig farming per unit of protein. For a country trying to reduce agricultural emissions, the argument is straightforward - at least on paper.

Survey at an insectarium

One limitation worth noting: the study recruited participants at the Montreal Insectarium, a venue that attracts people with at least some baseline interest in insects. The 44% willingness rate may overestimate the general Canadian population's openness. A survey conducted at a random grocery store or shopping mall might yield lower numbers.

The sample size of 252 is also modest, and the study was conducted at a single location in a bilingual, cosmopolitan city. Cultural attitudes toward food vary significantly across Canada's regions, and the results may not generalize to rural areas or different cultural communities.

Still, the study provides useful data for a field that has been long on theory and short on consumer research in North America. The message for food producers is clear enough: if you want Canadians to eat insects, grind them up first.