Michael Dobuski/ABC News(NEW YORK) Just within the past week, Brood X cicadas have delayed a White House press flight, been blamed for a car crash in Ohio and shown up on weather radar over Maryland. And the noisy insects' next trip could be to a dinner table near you. Prior to the last Brood X emergence in 2004, University of Maryland graduate student Dr. Jenna Jadin wrote a cookbook full of recipes that use cicadas, called Cicada-licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas. "I thought it was a great way to make these cicadas, which people seem to be afraid of, less scary," says Jadin. "Because when you can pluck something off the ground and eat it, it's a little bit less terrifying." The cookbook, which is available online, includes a variety of recipes ranging from Cicada Dumplings, to "El Chirper" Tacos, to "Chocolate Chip Trillers." "The ones I've eaten the most are the pecan tartlets, or I've even made them i
For those wondering why eat cicadas, or any bugs at all, one group of students is hoping to change mindsets on how Americans see cuisine as entomologists.
Initially working on crickets, Livingston switched up his studies to include Brood X, a group of periodical cicadas that emerge from the ground in 17-year cycles.
Currently, these insects have been popping up from the ground in various parts of the country, such as Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, New York and New Jersey. The last time residents witnessed this group was in 2004.
Although rather large and noisy, the Brood X bugs are completely harmless to humans, feast on tree sap and play an important role in the environment. These insects drink tree sap from deep underground, bringing nutrients back to the surface and aerating the soil as they come up from the ground. The (cicada) strategy is to overwhelm anything that could possibly eat it, said Princeton High School teacher, Mark Eastburn.
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Weeks after the arrival of Brood X, the buzzy swarm of cicadas that emerge from the ground every 17 years to cover trees and sidewalks across a swath of the country, federal health officials have a new warning: People with seafood allergies shouldn’t eat the insects.
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued the advice to would-be bug-munchers via Twitter, noting that the cicadas “share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters.”
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