I wonder how many infected cicada tacos it would take for a party. Cicadas Fall Prey to a Psychedelic-Producing Fungus That Makes Their Butts Fall Off | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
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Post-pandemic, maybe I’ll make it to this fiesta:
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But do they taste like shrimp or lobster? If that’s the case, lemme grab the garlic butter and Old Bay.
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But, but, but. They are so CUTE!
Cuuuuuute!
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They may be gluttonous, but the cicadas I have known didn’t seem shellfish to me.
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Likely not brood X, but there’s annuals and others that go on cycles other than 17 years.
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There’s a million described species of insects, and that’s before we start divvying them up by flavor. Odds are some are tasty. My guess is some taste exactly like shrimp/lobster/camembert, we just don’t know which as we he haven’t looked.
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Frank’s Hot Sauce marketing emailed me this today:
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Simple: genetically engineer them to swarm every year!
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I admit I am a bit concerned that this warning was even necessary, but OK…
Keep in mind that “seafood” is a cultural, culinary term, not a biological one. As the quote in the article notes, it’s people who are allergic to crustaceans who should avoid eating these other arthropods. If you’re allergic to fish, you should be careful of beef and chicken, which are closer to fish than cicadas are. And mollusks are likewise completely unrelated to arthropods (relatively speaking, of course).
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In the USA (and maybe most/all of Europe) we don’t tend to try eating bugs until we are desperate, but there is a world beyond that, and either they have been more open minded towards “micro livestock”, or have been more desperate.
Cicadas, Grasshoppers, Locusts, Ants Among the Tastiest Insects covers some, but I know there is some kind of grub or termite in I think Australia that taste like eggs&nutmeg that didn’t get covered in that list, so it is for sure not an exhaustive list.
…also there are defiantly some “pill bugs” that do taste like shrimp. I don’t know which ones though.
Sago grubs apparently taste like bacon. Many scorpions apparently taste like beef jerky.
Sounds like the bugs I’ve tried might not have been the ones I ought to try. Maybe I’ll see if I can find some Sago grubs…
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Probably this guy:
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Incidentally, cicadas – unlike locusts – are not kosher.
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Curious. Why?
Agree 100%. Those big red eyes are adorbs. They remind me of the mothman summon in the Shin Megami Tensei/Persona series.
From what I understand, locusts are kosher because they are specifically mentioned as being so in the torah. Other flying insects are not.
More info:
Well whaddyaknow. Thanks!
I’m really the wrong guy to ask about kashrut (we never kept kosher, part of my father’s rebellion against his very orthodox parents), but basically all insects are treif except for those specifically mentioned in the Talmud. There is a tradition of some Yemeni Jews eating certain species of locust, so those are considered OK. (They even get a mention in Leviticus.)
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