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This study aims to assess the household food security status and explore the potency of wild edible animals as a food source in the food insecurity–prone area of Bangkalan district, Madura, Indonesia.

This cross-sectional quantitative study used a mixed-method approach. A total of 66 participants were purposively recruited. Household food security was assessed using the short version of the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module (US-HFSSM). A list of available wild edible animals was obtained from each interview using a structured questionnaire. For the qualitative study, an in-depth interview was conducted among key informants at subvillage level.

We found that 33.4 percent of households were food insecure. At least 18 kinds of wild edible animal protein consumed by the respondents were identified in the study area, which consisted of five kinds of insects, five kinds of fish, three types of birds, and two mammals. Most of the wild edible animals were rich in protein.

Wild edible animals can be promoted to support household food security. Villagers did not usually consider consuming wild edible animals as a normal practice as there were concerns about the taste and safety of eating wild animal foods. Methods of processing and cooking foods to improve the taste and safety aspects need to be explored. The information obtained from this study adds more evidence related to the potential of edible wild animals as a food alternative for households in food-insecure areas.

The purpose of this paper introduces entomophagy as an alternative food consumption (AFC) capable of contributing to food well-being (FWB) among Western consumers. Specifically, it provides a conceptual framework where key factors related to the acceptance and adoption of insects and insects based foods are identified. This paper takes a sociocultural, symbolic and contextual perspective to offer marketers and public policymakers a set of recommendations to promote entomophagy as a sustainable and healthy food practice to help consumers achieve their FWB.

In this paper, first, the authors review the literature on entomophagy from its rise to establishment in different food cultures by considering two main perspectives as follows: historical and sociocultural. Second, the authors review the salience of entomophagy as an important AFC capable of addressing sustainability and food health issues. Finally, the authors propose a framework in which the authors define key factors related to the acceptance and adoption of an insects-based diet in Western food cultures. The identification of these factors will help marketing and public policymakers to set up educational programs and strategies to promote entomophagy as a sustainable and healthy food practice within different Western food cultures, and thus, help consumers to achieve their FWB.

To identify the key factors influencing the acceptance of entomophagy as AFC, this paper provides a summary of the core motivators characterizing the acceptance and adoption of insects and insect-based foods in Western food cultures. Specifically, the authors identify the key factors influencing the acceptance of entomophagy as food consumption in Western food cultures and based on the extant literature by Batat et al. (2017) the authors provide an entomophagy framework that includes both idiocentric and allocentric factors considering the adoption of insects and insect-based foods in Western food cultures. Table I provides a summary.

The authors believe entomophagy has the potential to generate societal benefits, as its appeal at the social (hunger in the world), environmental (reducing meat consumption and its impact on ecology) and health (less calories and nutritive food) level.

The research contributes to creating new knowledge that simulates debate among public policy and marketing scholars about entomophagy as a novel food in Western food cultures. The focus on key factors related to its acceptance and adoption of Western food cultures calls for empirical evidence to be tested in the marketplace using possibly different insect categories and other novel foods. Further, the framework should stimulate thinking about ways the authors can change consumers’ negative perceptions of disgusting food. Marketers and policymakers can achieve it by making their practices more efficient in terms of promoting sustainable AFC, as well as with efficient policy initiatives focused on supporting AFC, including the regulation of insect introduction.

This study aims to review processing and utilization of snail meat in alleviating protein malnutrition in Africa. Most countries in Africa are faced with a major challenge of protein malnutrition as a result of high cost of animal proteins. This has encouraged more research works in the use of wild or game meat to meet the much-needed animal proteins.

Previous literatures on the above subject matter were reviewed. In many African countries, the use of snails, rodents and other small livestock in the wild could help in improving the nutritional needs of the people in both urban and rural areas, as well as adding economic value through income generation to the local people.

Snails are very rich in dietary protein, low in fat and cholesterol and are good sources of iron, magnesium, calcium and zinc. Previous studies showed that snail meat contains 70 per cent of water and its dry matter contains high amounts of essential amino acids such as lysine, leucine, arginine and tryptophan. Research studies have shown that snail contains calcium orthophosphate, a chemical substrate that could alleviate and reduce kidney diseases. Also, the glandular substances found in edible snails were found to have antimicrobial activities that cause agglutination of certain bacteria, which could be used against some ailments like whooping cough. As snail meat products have high nutritional value, spoilage sets in after one or two days after harvesting, and therefore, the preservation of snail meat has become a major concern to farmers, processors and consumers. Several preservation techniques could be adopted, which include smoking, sun drying, convectional drying and the use of natural or artificial preservatives. These methods have been found to reduce microbial load of snail meat and help to extend shelf life and keeping quality of snail meat.

This review X-rayed the importance of snail meat in the human diet and how this could be explored to enhance protein nutrition in developing countries.

The aim of this paper is to investigate fat content and fatty acid profile of cultivated (Pleurotus ostreatus) and wild edible mushrooms (Amanita spp and Termitomyces microcarpus).

Pleurotus ostreatus was grown in soil and on cotton seed husks in mushroom growing rooms at Busitema University, Uganda. T. microcarpus and Amanita spp were collected from the wild. Freshly harvested mushrooms were dried at 60°C for 48 h in a hot air oven. Oil was extracted using a Clevenger apparatus. Fatty acid analysis was done using gas chromatography with flame ionization detection.

Fat content ranged between 0.24 and 5.23 per cent. Variation was noted between P. ostreatus grown in soil and on cotton seed husks (p = 0.0090). Similarly, Amanita spp and T. microcarpus had differing fat contents (p = 0.0098). Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) predominated over saturated fatty acids (SFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). Linoleic acid (LA) was the most abundant fatty acid (FA) (30.91 to 54.35 per cent). It varied between Amanita spp and T. microcarpus (p = 0.0001) but not between substrates (p = 0.1891). Ratios of PUFA/SFA, MUFA/SFA and PUFA/MUFA were within the desirable ranges. Omega-6 FA/ω-3 FA ratio was higher than that recommended for a healthy diet. However, the low amount of fat in mushrooms suppresses the negative effects of a high ω-6 FA/ω-3 FA ratio.

Information on FA profile of cultivated and wild edible mushrooms will provide a basis for commercial exploitation of the cultivated mushrooms. This work showed that P. ostreatus, Amanita spp and T. microcarpus are healthy foods with regard to the low fat content and high amounts of LA.

Gathering edible mushrooms from the fields and forest is nowadays more of a leisure activity than a serious search for food. When man's survival depended on his searches for the products of nature, wild edible species of mushroom probably made significant contributions to his diet and this is probably true today in some remote regions of the world where acute food shortages occur. In the Himalayas for example, the wild mushrooms that are eaten by the native monkeys are regarded as nutritious and edible. When plentiful these are gathered by the native population and preserved by drying in the sun for later consumption.

This paper presents the remarkably edible landscape of Tilting, Fogo Island, Newfoundland. Tilting is a Cultural Landscape District (Historic Sites and Monuments Board) and a Registered Heritage District (Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador). Tilting has outstanding extant examples of vernacular architecture relating to Newfoundland's inshore fishery, but Tilting was also a farming community despite its challenging sub-arctic climate and exposed North Atlantic coastal location. There was a delicate sustainable balance in all aspects of life and work in Tilting, as demonstrated through a resource-conserving inshore fishery and through finely tuned agricultural and animal husbandry practices. Tilting's landscape was “literally” edible in a way that is unusual for most rural North American communities today. Animals like cows, horses, sheep, goats, and chickens were free to roam and forage for food and fences were used to keep animals out of gardens and hay meadows. This paper documents this dynamic arrangement and situates local agricultural and animal husbandry practices in the context of other communities and regions in outport Newfoundland. It also describes the recent rural Newfoundland transition from a working landscape to a pleasure landscape.

Analyzes seven kinds of edible wild Macedonian mushrooms for their total dietary fibre (TDF) content, according to the official Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) method for plants as well as according to Hackman’s method for material of animal origin. Elemental analysis (C, H, N) of TDF procedures was performed in order to confirm the uniformity of the isolated products. The TDF contents of the mushrooms as measured by the AOAC method (8.71 per cent dry wt.) were considerably greater than those determined using the Hackman method (5.53 per cent dry wt.). Two products were isolated, both with C and H contents very similar to chitin and cellulose. These products differ from cellulose as they contain N. The infra‐red (IR) spectra of the TDF isolates obtained according to both the applied methods were very similar to the IR spectrum of chitin. In all spectra cellulose is missing.

This study aims to explore the barriers to upscaling the production capacity of the edible insect sector in the UK and to identify the impact of current regulation on the sector's development.

A significant proportion of edible insect-producing companies within the UK were identified through an online market research database and contacted via email to invite them to participate in this study. Phone interviews were conducted with ten companies. Thematic analysis was adopted for data analysis.

There were five themes identified as barriers to the upscaling of the production for the edible insect sector in the UK: insect feeding materials, production capacity, expertise and knowledge, new product development and regulatory uncertainty.

This research was based on a qualitative study. Further quantitative research is needed to test the extent of the impact of these five themes on upscaling production capacity. In addition to production capacity, marketing and consumers' acceptance, culture and behaviour can also be considered in future studies.

This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing insight on the barriers to upscaling production capacity in the edible insect sector.

This chapter is about the theories explaining the transition from foraging to farming. It aims to establish which links exist between the traditional theories – based on push/pull models – and the micro-founded approaches developed since the 1980s. More precisely, it asks how the latter may contribute, as the former did, to defining a macro-narrative of the transition to farming.

While they were providing a global narrative of the Neolithic revolution, the push and pull models have been progressively dismissed. Recent research is diverse, but it is all based upon human behaviour or micro-founded. We critically examine three of these approaches which focus either on foraging behaviour, or on the initial domestication of plants and animals, or on the evolution of social institutions related to ownership.

We demonstrate that these recent micro-founded approaches only provide a partial vision of the transition to farming. Despite this limit, they conciliate push and pull explanations in a single framework. Moreover, they confirm a conclusion held by tenants of pull models: the transition to farming is more likely to have occurred in a resource-rich environment such as the one associated with complex hunter-gatherers. Some archaeological evidence from the Levant is provided to support our claim.

This research chapter provides a useful overview of the differing approaches to the behavioural, environmental and economic factors that led to the shift to farming from foraging. Its value lies in the way it presents and evaluates differing positions derived from differing scales of analysis and types of evidence.