The one I'd immediately think of is from 1954, but still.
I think the eating bugs idea is stupid and wastes more lives than our current horrible system does, and that's saying something.
Oh I was thinking Food of the Gods with Marjoe Gortner and Empire of the Ants with Joan Collins.
I'm not actually even sure what I think about it... I have carpet beetles and clothes moths in my flat and I always catch them and put them out my window (there's not really anywhere else to go with them as I'm in a flat) but I'm well aware that even though they can fly they may well die out there. And I don't feel too bad about that, whereas if they were birds or mammals I'd feel much worse for their feelings (and wouldnt be chucking them onto the windowsill in the first place). I do have a bug phobia though so maybe I feel differently than most. It's not like I would gratuitously kill bugs for no reason but I do see a difference between the death of a mosquito and the death of a cow.
I don't have a bug phobia. I find myself becoming fond of lots of the bugs I see. I had a cricket with a missing hind leg come into my house a couple of years ago and take up residence on my desk. I fed her tiny bits of crushed cat kibble and fresh fruit. She only lived for two days. I felt sad when I found her dead. I admit to being mighty weird though.
I think of small invertebrates as valuing their own lives as much as a cow values hers, or I value mine. I can't know enough about their capacity to value their own lives, as compared to my capacity to value my own, but I figure they value their lives as much as they possibly can, so I tend to avoid trying to compare how much I might value the life of a cow compared to the life of a beetle, and figure they all value their own lives as much as they can, and that is all that matters to me. For some people it is only a matter of consistent ethics. For me, ahimsa is a big part of how I view the world, in addition to my vegan ethics. In other words, I don't think it is a failing if people don't feel an emotional link with invertebrates, and it's not even necessary to feel something for them in order to want to avoid harming them, except in cases of defense against parasites or home damage, such as a termite infestation. I kill all the ticks I find, for example. I don't like doing it, and it doesn't feel right to do it, but the alternative is just not acceptable to me, so I see it as choosing the lesser of two evils. But I do care for bugs, and can become quite fond of lots of them, and I won't kill them or even disregard their interests if it is not absolutely necessary.
over the summer a local library had a sort of contest between schools
and the winning librarian has agreed to eat a chocolate covered grasshopper
vegans find this wrong because.....
Vegans find it wrong because we recognize that it is very likely that insects are self aware and value their lives, and veganism is an ethical stance against harming and exploiting those organisms who are sentient, and thus are self aware and have an interest in their continued existence.
Vegans may also be concerned about the environmental impact this will have on ecosystems that are far more dependent on insect activity for their very existence than they are on larger animals. Paul Watson says worms are more important than people because the world can survive without people, but it can't survive without worms. Looked at this way, even bacteria are more important than people, because without bacteria there would be no soil, and thus there would be no terrestrial life at all, except for lichens that can eat stone. Once we start mucking around with the very foundations of the biosphere we have had it, and insect life is one of the building blocks of the foundation of life on this planet.