Eye-crunchin', wing-snappin', antennae-grabbin' good.
Posted on 06/16/2002 10:05:49 AM PDT by Willie Green
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:34:40 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Welcome to Cafe Cicada.
The appetizer -- if not conventionally appetizing -- specials today are "fried cicada in soy" and "sesame-garlic cicada."
You might know these extremely seasonal dishes as insects.
They're only on the menu every 17 years with these big Brood VIII cicadas, which, after a late start due to the region's cold, wet spring, have now emerged from the earth and are abundantly available throughout Beaver, Butler, Washington, Greene, Lawrence and Westmoreland counties.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Yes, but are they kosher?
Leviticus 11:21-23 bump.
"Ancient records contain many references to Entomophagy. In the Old Testament we find Leviticus 11:20-23 clearly setting out which insects may, and may not, be eaten in the Mosaical diet. Locusts and grasshoppers were perfectly Kosher then, as now. The author of Leviticus was not much of an entomologist however as he repeatedly tells us how insects have four legs. Wonder how those who regard the Bible as literal truth in every sense rationalise that one away?"
"Everybody has heard how that great prophet John the Baptist subsisted on locusts and wild honey. Some modern 'experts' claim he really ate locust beans from the carob tree but this is really stretching the imagination. Europeans, as a whole, find eating insects so repulsive they cannot envisage prophets of old finding them delicious. Wonder how long an active adult could survive on a diet of carob beans? Locusts are an excellent dietary foundation, like termites rich in protein and vitamins. The Manna of the Israelites may have been either small scale insects on acacia trees, or their sweet exudates, which are still eaten and called Manna by the Bedouin."
Thing.
Well, I suspect the little buggers don't migrate very far while they're burrowed underground for 27 years.
So it kind of makes sense that different local areas are on slightly different 17 year cycles when the bulk of them come out.
You still get some in the "off years", but they just aren't as noticeable because the numbers are fewer.
LOL!!!
What's really funny is when little kids discover those for the first time.
It's kinda like a real-life Ghost Story.
They're curious and like to poke at the little "skeletons",
but they're also afraid and squeemish about them at the same time!
I need to tell the author that Robinson Town Square in Alleg. Co. had a bunch of them dead on the sidewalks. We look out our windows and watch birds dive in the air to catch them.
It is somewhat odd as to how such an unpleasant sound can also
be recalled as a pleasant summertime memory from one's childhood.
Then went to Hopewell Pk and ended up feeding them to the ducks. They loved them.
Three yr old granddaughter pointed out ever hole in the ground exclaiming that was a cicada hole. Some were chipmunk holes. Would have hated to see that cicada. LOL
That's right nextdoor to me. They make an amazing amount of noise. And mess. Everytime I mow the lawn I wind up with thousands of shells in the bag. It's truly amazing. The birds chew them up on the sidewalk. Maintenance is a lot of work.
geez, wonder what the fat content is? might be a low-calorie alternative to junk food? nah.....
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