The Boundaries of the Edible

This paper offers a reflection on entomophagy in European countries with a focus on Italy, exploring the dynamics of cultural negotiation that the inclusion of insect-based food requires. Indeed, this practice is still far from meeting the shared, common sense and, as such, generates pathemic reactions often marked by disgust. In response, companies producing insect-based food must deploy complex rhetorical strategies either to present their products as acceptable or to make them so. The reflection concludes by highlighting the ideological component that is often hidden in discourses promoting insect-based food in Italy.