Welcoming cicadas into the kitchen
Experts and aficionados encourage Americans to eat the insect when it swarms the eastern US this summer
AP, NEW YORK
Cicadas are poised to infest whole swaths of American backyards this summer. Maybe it’s time they invaded your kitchen.
Swarms of the red-eyed bugs, who are reemerging after 17 years below ground, offer a chance for home cooks to turn the tables and make them into snacks.
Full of protein, gluten-free, low-fat and low-carb, cicadas were used as a food source by Native Americans and are still eaten by humans in many countries.
Cicada nymphs appear on top of chocolate cookies last week at the home of University of Maryland entomologists Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury in Columbia, Maryland. The cookies are meant to depict the cicada nymph emerging from the dirt.