Sometimes I tackle topics that are too broad or deep for a 1-page article. This was one of those times. Still, I hope that the question and briefly stated answer at least provide food for thought.
I think your first question is valid. I don't have an answer, but I'll point out that it's worth considering whether the answer is a Tier #1 reason or a Tier #2 reason (or MAYBE Tier #3, but intuitively, I don't think so). Here's where I discuss the three tiers of reasons for mitzvos: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2017/06/are-mitzvos-arbitrary-or-pillow-mashal.html
Your second question, in my opinion, isn't valid, since your reaction of "gross" is based on the culinary conventions of our particular society. If you were raised in a locale where grasshoppers were regularly eaten, you wouldn't view them as "gross" and you might not even categorize them as bugs.
It's also possible that the Torah permitted eating certain species of locusts because they are a valuable source of nutrition which would be available at times when locusts destroy the crops. That's just speculation on my part.
I was responding to your statement about “abstaining from eating a single category of creatures, which many of us already regard as detestable.” Don’t many of us also find locusts detestable?
Ah, got it. Yeah, I wish I had the space to elaborate on that point in the article itself, but here's the essence of what I would have written:
Humanity is divided in its feelings about eating insects. In some cultures, bugs are a part of the cuisine, and abstaining from eating them would provide kedushah in the same way as abstaining from eating any other non-kosher species of mammals, fish, and birds. In other cultures, the thought of eating insects is repulsive. On the surface, one might wonder, "Why does the Torah need to prohibit us from eating creatures which we already find disgusting?" The simple answer is that this prohibition was designed for the OTHER cultures; for us, this prohibition doesn't function to provide us with kedushah, since we aren't in a position in which we need to wage a war with our yetzer. A more nuanced psychological answer is that the feelings of disgust stem from an unconscious DESIRE to eat those insects - just as Chazal teach that our repulsion towards incest stems from an unconscious desire (see Sanhedrin 64a). According to this interpretation, the mitzvah is designed to prompt us to refrain on the basis of kedushah, rather than on the basis of disgust. The Rambam writes about this in Shemoneh Perakim Chapter 6, quoting Chazal's teaching that a person shouldn't say, "I don't want to eat basar b'chalav, or wear shaatnez, or do arayos" but rather "I want to, but what can I do? My Father in heaven forbade me!"
Ok, self-restraint is great, but why these specific insects, and why does the Torah allow eating grasshoppers (which seem equally gross)?
I think your first question is valid. I don't have an answer, but I'll point out that it's worth considering whether the answer is a Tier #1 reason or a Tier #2 reason (or MAYBE Tier #3, but intuitively, I don't think so). Here's where I discuss the three tiers of reasons for mitzvos: https://kolhaseridim.blogspot.com/2017/06/are-mitzvos-arbitrary-or-pillow-mashal.html
Your second question, in my opinion, isn't valid, since your reaction of "gross" is based on the culinary conventions of our particular society. If you were raised in a locale where grasshoppers were regularly eaten, you wouldn't view them as "gross" and you might not even categorize them as bugs.
It's also possible that the Torah permitted eating certain species of locusts because they are a valuable source of nutrition which would be available at times when locusts destroy the crops. That's just speculation on my part.
I was responding to your statement about “abstaining from eating a single category of creatures, which many of us already regard as detestable.” Don’t many of us also find locusts detestable?
Ah, got it. Yeah, I wish I had the space to elaborate on that point in the article itself, but here's the essence of what I would have written:
Humanity is divided in its feelings about eating insects. In some cultures, bugs are a part of the cuisine, and abstaining from eating them would provide kedushah in the same way as abstaining from eating any other non-kosher species of mammals, fish, and birds. In other cultures, the thought of eating insects is repulsive. On the surface, one might wonder, "Why does the Torah need to prohibit us from eating creatures which we already find disgusting?" The simple answer is that this prohibition was designed for the OTHER cultures; for us, this prohibition doesn't function to provide us with kedushah, since we aren't in a position in which we need to wage a war with our yetzer. A more nuanced psychological answer is that the feelings of disgust stem from an unconscious DESIRE to eat those insects - just as Chazal teach that our repulsion towards incest stems from an unconscious desire (see Sanhedrin 64a). According to this interpretation, the mitzvah is designed to prompt us to refrain on the basis of kedushah, rather than on the basis of disgust. The Rambam writes about this in Shemoneh Perakim Chapter 6, quoting Chazal's teaching that a person shouldn't say, "I don't want to eat basar b'chalav, or wear shaatnez, or do arayos" but rather "I want to, but what can I do? My Father in heaven forbade me!"