So, have you heard or read about the big Cicada “emergence” about to happen in several other Midwest and Southern states? These are not the annual cicadas we call “locusts” that are heard every August here in Kansas, but rather some of those that have been in the ground for 13 and 17 years. Cicadas are formally identified as “broods,” and starting any day now, two of these broods, brood XIX that emerge every 13 years, and brood XIII that emerge every 17 years are set to show themselves at the same time. This is a rare occurrence that last happened in 1803, and won’t happen again until the year 2245. Their sole purpose is to breed, after which they die; eggs are laid on tree branches, and upon hatching, the young fall to the ground and burrow themselves in around the trees, to emerge again in either 13 or 17 years. It’s been estimated there could be up to half a million of the critters per acre where they will be the worst. Audiologists are worried about the noise levels of the critters screeching “love songs,” warning that the sound from this many of them at once can actually be as loud as a jackhammer or lawnmower. “Bug Doctors” and those that study this sort of thing are about to wet themselves with excitement over the rare event, which some have labeled “cicada-geddon.”
I say all this in response to a discussion I heard on the radio today about eating cicadas. Years ago, I wrote a column entitled “My Reverse Bucket List,” where I listed a few things I DO NOT ever want to do, and KNOWINGLY and PURPOSLY eating bugs was one of them. If God had wanted me to eat bugs, he would have made me an ant eater or a bird, so today I still say no, no and nope to eating bugs.
However, it seems eating cicadas is not all that far-fetched. Amazon actually lists 4 cook books completely dedicated to cooking and eating cicadas; “The Cicada Cookbook,” “Cooking with Cicadas,” “Cicada Recipes for the Zombie Apocalypse” and “The Cheeky Cicada; A Culinary Adventure with Natures Symphony.” An internet search easily provided a list of possible cicada dishes, to include pan fried cicadas, chocolate covered cicadas, boiled cicadas, crispy cicada salad, cicadas marinara, spicy popcorn cicadas, cicada chips and even a recipe for chocolate cookies, each with a toasted cicada in the middle instead of a Hershey’s Kiss. Someone even suggested gathering a bunch while they are so plentiful and available, and freezing them by the bagful for later use. I can see it all now; the wife reaches into the freezer for a bag of frozen corn or peas and comes out with a
bagful of frozen locusts instead; that should make for interesting table talk at dinner.
I also stumbled across a few little pieces of advice and ditties concerning cooking and eating the little blighters. Concerning eating them, one person said “They’re great for the summer BBQ, while they are everywhere.” Another advised “No need to tear off the legs and wings, they just add to the crispiness.” Another slogan went something like this, “If you can’t beat em’, cook em’.”
Well, there you have it, a little history lesson, a little news story and a whole lotta’ cicada 101 all rolled into one. Just to reiterate, this won’t be happening in our neck-of-the-woods…this time, but in 17 states east and south of us. Also, just to reiterate, I still say no, no and nope to eatin’ bugs. Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors (cicada free.)
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].
