The surprisingly popular conspiracy theory about eating insects

Do the worlds elites want to force you to eat bugs? A surprisingly high number of TV and radio hosts, not to mention European politicians, say yes.

Mealworms, now approved as a food source in the EU. Photo by Pengo.

I almost didn’t write about this, everyone already knows about “eat ze bugs” right? Then I reminded myself my media consumption habbits are atypical and the idea that the UN and the World Economic Forum are plotting to feed us plebs on insects is not something the average person has encountered, or if they have, they probably don’t know the origins or spread of this conspiracy theory.

‘Eat the bugs’: a short history of yet another global conspiracy was published by The Spinoff this week and is the latest in a series of articles on climate change disinformation made possible by a grant from the Bruce Jesson Foundation. That grant has allowed me to write three longform articles, and provide them to The Spinoff where they recieve a wider audience than they would on Feijoa Dispatch and can be published without a paywall.

Paywalls are something of a neccessary evil in journalism these days, as time and labour is required to research and write articles. I make the majority of what I write for Feijoa Dispatch free to read because I believe the topics are important, but have premium content available as well. The support for the premium content helps give me the time to write the content I give away free, if you value this kind of journalism, consider a premium subscription.

Back in 2022 I appeared in the documentary Web of Chaos and talked about researching the far-right, conspiracy theories, and disinformation more generally. When asked about how I detach from this world, I talked about swimming. I’ve been swimming for a long time but it’s taken on a new place in myself as the most offline activity you can do (do water proof smart phones exist? if so, I’d rather not know) my annual pool membership is up for renewal but due to an appliance breaking this same month I’m letting it lapse and picking it up again in spring. A dozen or so annaul subscribers over winter would cover my membership, so if you do take out a subscription you’re helping this journalism happen, but also helping me balance it with an activity where I don’t have to think about what supposed evils the WEF is up to this week.