The Cicadas Are Coming.

Let’s Eat Them!

Why not embrace Brood X as the free-range, sustainable source of protein that it truly is?

KATE KNIBBS WIRED CULTURE 05.11.2021 07:00 AM

FOR 17 YEARS, the trillions of cicadas known as Brood X have tunneled through dark soil, feeding on sap as they slowly matured... these long-gestating underground bugs are starting to hatch across the eastern United States, emerging from the earth in astounding numbers...it offers a source of free-range, no-cost, eco-friendly protein...

Bun Lai A New Haven, Connecticut–based chef renowned for pioneering sustainable sushi...is collecting as many as he can find.

When he’s done, he’ll host a cicada-based popup dinner in the woods with his bounty. Lai plans to serve the cicadas in a paella, on a pizza, and as a sushi ingredient. He’s going to make some using indigenous preparation methods, too. “Cicadas taste a bit like nuts, as many insects do, but with every bite, my nose is reminded of popcorn, too,” he says...

High-end, and with an appealingly low carbon footprint. Farming insects is much more efficient than raising conventional livestock, and the environmental case for eating insects is gaining momentum.

“It takes much less land, much less energy,” says entomologist Jessica Ware, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History. “...we’re going to need to make some change. And entomophagy would be a really good one in terms of sustainability.”

... easy to harvest, they are seen as potential six-legged silver bullets for combating food insecurity.

Investors are banking on Big Bug. (Market researchers predict the global edible insect market will reach $4.63 billion by 2027...