What is I Will Not Eat the Bugs?

A defiant catchphrase tied to the Great Reset conspiracy theory that global elites plan to replace meat with insect protein. It usually pairs with "I will not live in the pod" and other anti-WEF refusals.

Where did I Will Not Eat the Bugs come from?

Twitter user @TywysogM first posted the full "I will not live in a pod and I will not eat the bugs" line on September 25, 2019 as a reply to a Geoffrey Cox parliament clip. The idea built on a June 2019 Food Insider tweet asking if people would eat insects to save the planet.

What does I Will Not Eat the Bugs mean?

It expresses refusal of a perceived elite push toward insect consumption in place of meat for climate reasons. Users adopt the line as a rallying cry against the World Economic Forum and the Great Reset narrative.

How do you use I Will Not Eat the Bugs?

Chain the line with other refusals (owning nothing, living in a pod) into a copypasta or image macro. Posts often add a Crusader Pepe, medieval knight, or confrontation with a WEF-coded villain.

Is I Will Not Eat the Bugs still popular?

The catchphrase picked up broader attention around 2021 Great Reset discourse covered by the Daily Beast, and surfaces again whenever bug-protein stories appear in food-policy news.

I Will Not Eat the Bugs

2019catchphrasesemi-active

Published November 14, 2026

"I Will Not Eat the Bugs" is a defiant catchphrase tied to the Great Reset conspiracy theory, which claims global elites want to replace meat with insects for environmental reasons. Twitter user @TywysogM assembled the full "I will not live in a pod and I will not eat the bugs" line in September 2019, and by December 2021 it had grown into a Crusader Pepe copypasta on r/PoliticalCompassMemes.

conspiracy memes catchphrase memes copypasta memes culture war memes far right memes

Overview

Posts in the format stack anti-globalist refusals into a chant, pairing the bug line with siblings such as "I will not live in the pod" and "I will not own nothing and be happy"6. Image macros often cast the speaker as a medieval knight or Crusader Pepe staring down a World Economic Forum figure8. The tone sits between sincere political alarm and ironic schizoposting.

Refusal powers the joke. A typical post lists what the narrator rejects (bugs, pods, electric cars, lab meat) while a smug antagonist, often a Greta Thunberg edit, tries to force compliance6. Variations swap the enemy for a Davos elite or Klaus Schwab stand-in and lengthen the chant with new grievances each cycle, which lets the format absorb each fresh climate or food-policy news story.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter (phrase assembly) / Reddit (viral copypasta)

Creator

@TywysogM

Date

2019

The phrase has roots in a 2017 Mother Jones tweet promoting an article that already used the "We Will Not Eat the Bugs" framing4. CNN revived the idea on May 2, 2019 with a now-deleted video titled "To feed the world, why not eat bugs?" arguing that climate change made insect protein worth considering3. On June 28, 2019, Food Insider posted "Would you eat insects to help save the planet?" with a short video that gathered 8.3 million views over three years, giving the backlash its catalyst1.

Twitter user @TywysogM authored the full "I will not live in a pod and I will not eat the bugs" statement on September 25, 2019, as a reply to a clip of British MP Geoffrey Cox ranting in parliament5.

How It Spread

A day after the TywysogM post, @nic__carter published a Twitter meme on September 26, 2019 questioning whether bug-eating was really about climate given that nuclear power offers cleaner energy, earning roughly 210 likes7. The line stayed niche through 2020, then found a bigger audience as COVID-19 conspiracy communities folded it into the Great Reset narrative. The Daily Beast covered the trend in 2021, describing anti-COVID "truthers" as the loudest voices insisting elites planned to replace steak with crickets2.

On December 18, 2021, Reddit user Chichcob posted a Crusader Pepe copypasta on r/PoliticalCompassMemes that expanded the original line with a longer list of refusals, earning 1,340 upvotes within a month8. A counter-meme strain also appeared, including a November 12, 2019 Greta Thunberg edit by Twitter user HenkBautz that mocked the refusers from the opposite angle6.

Timeline

2017-08-19

Mother Jones tweets an article using the "We Will Not Eat the Bugs" framing, seeding the phrase.

2019-05-02

CNN uploads "To feed the world, why not eat bugs?" tying insect protein to climate change.

2019-06-28

Food Insider asks "Would you eat insects to help save the planet?" in a tweet that later gathers 8.3 million views.

2019-09-25

Twitter user @TywysogM assembles the full "I will not live in a pod and I will not eat the bugs" phrase in a reply to a Geoffrey Cox clip.

2019-09-26

@nic__carter posts a follow-on Twitter meme contrasting bug-eating with nuclear power.

2021-01

The Daily Beast reports that Great Reset conspiracy circles are consumed by the idea that elites want to force bug diets.

2021-12-18

Redditor Chichcob posts a Crusader Pepe copypasta expansion to r/PoliticalCompassMemes, earning 1,340 upvotes in one month.

How to Use This Meme

Common practice is to assemble a stack of refusals in a single declarative block, often opening with "I will not eat the bugs" and chaining lines about pods, ownership, lab meat, and electric cars. Posts attach a Crusader Pepe, medieval knight, or confrontation with a WEF-coded villain and expand the list whenever new climate or food-policy news breaks8.