Paul Rozin, a professor of psychology at Penn, found that people are reluctant to drink from a glass that contained a plastic cockroach. What would happen if people ate from a plate with a drawing of an insect?
Piatti sporchi = dirty plates. From a 2008 food design competition in Turin. (English description here.) The plates have pictures of a fly, a hair, a beetle, and a lipstick smudge. In a mass-market version, you could have a choice of insect sizes to control the amount of repulsion.
The competition was open to anyone. Most of the 50-odd entries were from students; a few were from professionals. This entry was from Sayonara Rush Design.
Thanks to Francesca Zampollo.
But once people get used to eating off of plates with pictures of bugs, what will happen when there’s a real bug on their plate?
I don’t think the aversion will re-adjust the set-point, so food will be eaten elsewhere.
Or once people begin to associate delicious food with bugs… gotta go, just had an insight for a new business plan.