Michael Eversmier News Today

BALTIMORE — When it comes to cicada cuisine, adventurous eaters are quick to offer comparisons: shrimp, fried oyster, soft-shell crab. But when, courtesy of an Oregon Ridge naturalist, I tried them Thursday, battered in Old Bay, they didn’t taste like much of anything: The sort of airy fried snack that I might wash down with a beer before dinner. I snacked on freshly molted cicadas, which ...

When it comes to cicada cuisine, adventurous eaters are quick to offer comparisons: shrimp, fried oyster, soft-shell crab. But when, courtesy of an Oregon Ridge naturalist, I tried them Thursday, battered in Old Bay, they didn’t taste like much of anything: The sort of airy fried snack that I might wash down with a beer before dinner. I snacked on freshly molted cicadas, which hadn’t yet ...

Some call cicadas tasty. For others, just the thought of eating a cicada can make their stomach turn.