Eating Cicadas
 

I live in the area of the midwest that is going to get invaded by the 17 year cicada hoard. I have done quite a bit of research and have decided to cook up these insects.

I have found this site http://www.urhome.umd.edu/newsdesk/p...%20recipes.PDF and it has quite a few recipies.

What is everybody's opinion on eating cidadas, or insects for that matter?

Ewie! No buggies for me!

Gaah. I'm not sure I could do it. I absolutely love lobsters though, and see the irony. I've had crickets, ants, and mealworms, but cicadas are a bit bigger.

I have heard that they taste nutty. Supposedly they have high protein and almost no fat. The way you are supposed to eat them is to catch them in the middle of the night when they are crawling up the trees, before their outer shell gets hard.

One concern I have is eating them from a residential area. I figure there are alot of pesticides and fertilizers around and I dont want my food tainted with that.

What do you all think?

17 year cicada horde? Damn I'm glad I live in california. Eating them? No way dude! Those are bugs!

Maybe I'm a little weird, but I figured the Indians ate them too... so I might give it a try.

I'm a wimp and I hate bugs :( There was a caterpillar on my passenger seat and I was too much of a wimp to pick it up and drop it outside so I had to flick it with a drumstick I had in my car. I dunno what I'll do when the cicadas come out of the ground in the next few weeks.

can't say cicadas are high on my list of things i want to eat, but insects are supposed to be something lik 90% protein, really good for you.

I hope you're hungry....

Ugh...we'll be getting to Ohio just in time for the cicadas (unless, like my mom said, it gets warm enough in the next week or so...then we'll get there right in the middle of it).

The last time we had the "invasion," I watched my brother eat one raw. Well, he chewed one anyway, then immediately spit it out. Apparently they're not too tasty raw (and I'd rather not find out if they're tastier after being cooked...)

Rock on, Galadrium. Try and get some pics!

My cat loves them...

My little sister used to catch them for him while he waited patiently. She'd present them to him and he'd bite their heads off. After he had a pile he'd start chomping away.

I wish I could move out of the south when they arrive. These bugs almost drive me insane and weedeating your lawn only makes them think you want to mate with them. Personally I wouldn't eat them and they sure don't smell good when you hit them with weedeating line at the base of trees where there are hundreds dead/lying there. Ugh, this summer is going to suck for a while. Happy eating for you if you decide to do so.

How many could there possibly be?

I know my dog has been digging up her yard and appears to be eating things from inside the hole. Maybe she's eating these bugs?

I have all intention of walking around town with a flamethrower strapped to my back, eliminating the infestation in its entirety. Either that, or walk around with a lighter and a can of carb cleaner. Thats how I took care of our ant, hornet, and moth problems.

Cept then you only had to worry about a million bugs, tops. It'll take mroe than a flamethrower to kill the trillion or so cicadas that are going to emerge.

Oh, if you're in an area affected by them you'll find out. Estimates are a million PER ACRE.

I grew up in western Maryland, and the last swarm took place when I was 5. Trust me, you'll notice em.

I perfer my bugs ground up in the food so I cant see them or know that they are in there.

Here is a map showing the areas of this years brood.
http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fa...al/BroodX.html

Well, you know... they say that things that are made of grain contain bugs already, since the grain sits in large silos and bugs get into it. In fact. the bugs add protien to the grain. So you are probably eating some parts of an incect every time you eat a piece of bread.

you might want to be careful!

http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/146839-2920-103.html

no cicadas as long as there's still steak

Hm, intresting map there.

I'm in north western PA, lets hope we dont get any more then we usually do every year. I've only seen one this year, and it was still in the larva/slug'ish stage when our tree was hit by lightning.

Why eat cicadas? Even if you like 'em you'll have to wait 17 years to order the dish again...

Well... I guess it is like a 17 year treat, Actually, there are several broods that come out periodically, not just every 17 years. Almost every year there is an emmergence somewhere in the US.