Morally, could I tell you why, like the author of this post tries to do? Absolutely not. I eat birds and mammals. I had a decade-long stint of vegetarianism and often thought about my moral responsibility as a conscious creature towards the other creatures on this Earth. But tossing the insects wasn't even a choice, and in retrospect, I don't think I could convince myself to eat them (even if the macros are good.)
I wonder how much of this aversion is learned/cultural, and if future generations will laugh at how squeamish we are today.
Though ultimately, that's not even the point. The larger point is that individual consumer choice does not actually shift the food industry structure, which, again, is neatly exemplified by this entire debate that kicked off these threads: humans don't -choose- bugs. This is a system change. Though of course the change involves better mass production capability and higher rates of profit on the industry side, not "care for nature". Industry doesn't care for anything but profit.
How is this possible? Cows must feed and they eat plants (inefficiently too)
There are two kinds of animal food aversions: disgust because the creature itself is considered disgusting, and horror because the creature is more often considered a companion animal or otherwise special. Anglo-Americans generally have a strong aversion to eating both mice and guinea pigs (horses, dogs), but for those very different reasons.
There were several cheese types in Britain that were traditionally full of maggots, and eaten that way. Modern food production techniques and refrigeration has allowed us the luxury of strong insect aversions.
In parts of Colonial America, prisoners and slaves were fed lobster, and free servants' contracts often stipulated that they wouldn't be fed it more than a certain number of times per week, because people with a choice didn't want to eat them. Cultures change! Now lobster is a luxury food everywhere in the US other than the areas they're caught in, where it's a cultural pride food.
Seafood is considered haram by the hanafis only. The Malaysians are shafi’is so they can eat shrimp.
Except that Bangladesh (hanafi) is a big exporter of shrimp, go figure.
And India exports beef in quantities comparable to the US and Australia.
Once I purchased a big sack of basmati rice. When I opened it at home, all the larvae came worming their way out. I mean there was a lot of bugs in this rice. And I knew this store tended to keep stuff on their shelves years beyond the expiration dates. So I took the sack of rice back to the store.
The kind proprietor told me it was a nothingburger and the bugs wouldn't hurt me. I said ugh. He said just to pick the bugs out. I said there's a lot of bugs. He insisted this is normal and no big deal. I think I finally managed to make the return. And I really didn't feel like shopping there again.
Growing up, my dad would say hilarious things, like "mmm, more protein" and lick his lips when he saw a bug on our food. Or, he would see a non-venomous spider in the house and say "he won't eat much." But I managed to develop a rather neurotic fear of pests. I adored beneficial insects when I was a child; I memorized all their Latin scentific names, and I purchased ladybugs and mantids at the nursery and I released them all into the garden. I would build ant farms, fascinated with their tunneling and behaviors. I used to catch butterflies just because they were beautiful. But show me a cockroach or a bedbug in my home, and I will go into a hissy fit. I don't feel like that's abnormal.