Edible Insects and Cyprus Island People's Perspective

Abstract

Food-related problems that may occur due to the increases in the world population have led to the possibility of turning to different food sources that will minimize production costs and time. The fact that the production costs of edible insects and the protein content for a portion are higher than the existing protein sources, causing less damage to the environment, producing in small areas create the opinion that it is an option in a possible food problem, and it is also within the scope of today's gastronomy trends. The aim of the study was to determine the perceptions of the Cypriot society towards edible insects. The research is a quantitative study and data were collected from 450 participants living on the island of Cyprus through a questionnaire and analyzed in the SPSS-22 program. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the perceptions of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus societies towards edible insects have significant differences according to gender, education level, personality traits. In order to clarify the values, t test was applied. As a result of this analysis, it was concluded that the perceptions of the society living in the Republic of Cyprus towards edible insects are positively weighted compared to the societies living in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.