Cicadas cook up appetizing crunch (***Eat a Bug Alert***)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Saturday, June 15, 2002 | Don Hopey

[Willie Green]

I don't know about 17 years ago...
but I sure know that we didn't eat these bugs when I was a Pittsburgh teenager 34 years ago.
Some kids might've eaten a worm on a dare,
...or the chocolate covered ants one could by at the novelty store as a literal "gag" gift...
but NOBODY would eat the dang cicadas, not even the hippies who had "the munchies".

[Orual]

Eye-crunchin', wing-snappin', antennae-grabbin' good.

[dighton]

Eye-crunchin', wing-snappin', antennae-grabbin' good.

Yes, but are they kosher?

Leviticus 11:21-23 bump.

[Age of Reason]

Here's an audio report (RealOne/Real Audio Player needed) to take your from the hunt to the sizzle and crunch: "I ate them when I drinking beer; yeah it really delicious for me."

[Orual]

Yes, but are they kosher?

"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."

[martin_fierro]

It's a 'Burgh Thing.

[Hoosier Patriot]

That specimen looks slightly anemic to my eye. Here in Indiana we have a variety with a bit more meat on its bones.

[Willie Green]

Yeah, just like "Parkway North" and "Sparkle Night"...
IMHO, It's a 'Burgh Thing that we would be better off without. Ugh!

[strela]

Ooooooh, the little cream-filled kind!

[mountaineer]

Those critters were in our neck of the woods two years ago. What a racket they made! A few of them ventured into Washington County, Pa. (a mere six miles away), but overall, they seem to respect state boundaries for some reason!

[Willie Green]

but overall, they seem to respect state boundaries for some reason!

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.

[mountaineer]

The strangest thing about our cicada infestation of two years ago was all the crunchy little carcasses that piled up around the tree trunks - an odd sight, to say the least!

[Willie Green]

The strangest thing about our cicada infestation of two years ago was all the crunchy little carcasses that piled up around the tree trunks - an odd sight, to say the least!

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!

[MadelineZapeezda]

They are so abundant and noisy here, just 20 miles north of you, m. We were at the picnic grounds yesterday and the base of trees had hundreds, if not thousands of holes and dead cicadas. I think there movin on (or dying) because today was less noisy. We live at the edge of the woods.

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.

[Willie Green]

They are so abundant and noisy here,

It is somewhat odd as to how such an unpleasant sound can also
be recalled as a pleasant summertime memory from one's childhood.

[donozark]

I know the last time they were out hereabouts, they totalled my bug-zapper!

[Vinnie]

I was up there this last week. Son drove us to Raccoon Creek Pk to do some birding. Couldn't hear anything for the critters.

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

[Glenn]

Then went to Hopewell Pk and ended up feeding them to the ducks.

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.

[xsmommy]

They taste kind of like a Dorito," said Eileen Meddis, the Carnegie Museums' director of human resources, "but far superior."

geez, wonder what the fat content is? might be a low-calorie alternative to junk food? nah.....