According to Time Magazine, a recent United Nations
report states that we will have to eat more bugs to stave off world
hunger. In Fight World Hunger by Eating
Bugs, Urges U.N., they point out that bugs are a
cost-efficient, high source of protein with minimal environmental
impact. And, further, that non-Western cultures are already happily
consuming them: "The report points out that insects have
always been part of our diet, noting that today more than two
billion people already consume insects as food and implying that
the reason Westerners don't comes down to irrational cultural
distaste." In short, there is an "ick" factor.
To help us overcome the "ick" factor, we note
that this is the summer when one of the 17-year cicada
broods is emerging to mate on the East Coast (there are a number of
13-year and 17-year broods that emerge at different times and in
different areas). So over at Philly.com, they've helpfully
published an article, When life gives you cicadas,
eat 'em. As they point out:
"Cicadas are eaten the world over. They are said to
taste like asparagus - or, you guessed it, chicken. In Africa,
Asia, and South America, people know how to cook them. In
Australia, which hosts more than 220 of the world's 2,000-plus
species, different species have different slang names, such as
Black Prince, Brown Baker, and Green Baron. They're so common that
Australian recipes tend to be fairly casual, such as this one from
a website: 'First, pull the wings off and then throw them onto hot
coals for about a minute. Turn them over once or twice and they're
ready to eat.'"
They do go on to note, "Avoid cicadas if you're
allergic to lobster or crawfish. All three are arthropods; if
you're allergic to one, you're likely allergic to the others. Stick
to grasshoppers. To put it on the positive side, we quote Dave
Stieger, manager of the Insectarium museum in Philadelphia: 'If you
like eating shrimp, you'd probably love eating
cicadas.'"
And in another article from the New York
Post, Cicadas set to descend on
East Coast can be tasty dishes when well-prepared, they
helpfully give out recipes for cicada tacos, cicada rhubarb pie,
Maryland cicadas, and recommend topping peanut butter cups with
cicadas. So no excuses - enjoy!