Y'alls into eating bugs?!?!?

[LangdoniousRex]

The algorithm brought me this. I have a hard time believing it but, then again, I'm a Yankee transplant.

Tennesseans most interested in eating cicadas

[Grayfox54]

Never heard of it. Never known anybody who's tried it. Don't wanna try it. But I am curious. Just how do ya cook a cicada? 

OTOH there are people in other countries who regularly eat bugs. And according to the save the planet bunch, insects may well be the food of the future and end starvation. 

 

[gun sane]

You ever tried them with wild honey?  It's so good it'll make you stand in a river and dunk people.  

[Tom B]

I eat bugs frequently when I ride my motorcycle-lol.

[Sleep profit]

I don’t eat bugs but have seen on TV people have deep fried them and put chocolate on them But as for me I will stick with a nice Ribeye. 

[res308]

1 hour ago, gun sane said:

You ever tried them with wild honey?  It's so good it'll make you stand in a river and dunk people.  

see what ya did there

[gregintenn]

Aren't shrimp and lobsters just really big bugs?

[NoBanStan]

I think I preferred calling them Locusts like back in my younger days. I don't think I even heard the name Cicada until I was much older.

That being said... anything is good with Frank's Red Hot!
 

Edited May 8 by NoBanStan

[gary_boom]

They are supposed to inflame gout like seafood does if you eat a lot.

[Tom B]

1 hour ago, NoBanStan said:

I think I preferred calling them Locusts like back in my younger days. I don't think I even heard the name Cicada until I was much older.

That being said... anything is good with Frank's Red Hot!
 

I put that #### on everything-lol

[analog_kidd]

Got a buddy up in PA that tried them a year or two ago when they had a brood event up there. Said they were OK. He grilled them and they were just crunchy.

His son in law tried them and got real sick. Broke out in hives. Apparently they have the same ingredient that causes people with shellfish allergies to get sick, which his son in law has. So, be careful

[MacGyver]

I've had bread/griddle cakes made with locust meal.  They're fine.

I wouldn't go out of my way to eat it - but someone could serve it to you and you wouldn't think anything was amiss.

[MacGyver]

If you're so inclined - you can probably substitute cricket or locust flour:

https://www.amazon.com/Cricket-powder-made-100-22/

Apparently it's about twice as protein dense as beef.

[MacGyver]

From Montclair State University is you really want to try them whole - fried in batter is probably the way to do it:

Tempura Cicadas:

Ingredients

15 teneral cicada
1 egg
1.5 cup flour or your favorite gluten-free flour substitute (We use Cassava)
2 tsp salt
Cold Seltzer
Oil for frying (I like using coconut oil because it pairs really well with cicada and cassava flavors)

Instructions

Preheat oil for frying in a dutch oven or deep pan.
Combine the flour, salt and egg.
Slowly pour in the seltzer and mix (but not too much) until it’s the consistency of lumpy pancake batter. Keep it in the fridge on ice or on the top shelf until you use it.
Once the oil is hot enough (I always put a drop of batter in to test it), dip the cicada into the batter and fry until golden brown.

[RED333]

I think some people are trying to come up with a way to eat them to take away some of the noise.

[OldIronFan]

Had them flash fried and drizzled with hot honey. Crunchy, most of the flavor was from the hot honey though. Not much added flavor from the cicada. 
Had them battered and fried as well. Same result as above. Most of the flavor was in the batter, oil, and the provided dipping sauce not the cicada.

4/10, would eat it again if I had to. 

There is not much I have not or will not try food wise. I have consumed plenty of wild game meat, including, alligator and snake. I have had horse meat, dog, and likely cat. I have had more cured, pickled, dried, and canned seafood than I would care to recall including Hákarl . On the bug side I have had crickets, ants, grasshoppers, meal worm, and a couple of agave worms that were at the bottom of a bottle of some clear liquid .

[gregintenn]

How does one field dress a cicada?

[AuEagle]

Woodrow Call like the fried, candied bugs Po Campo made in Lonesome Dove.

[AuEagle]

In 1991-2 there was a cicada hatch. My Chesapeake pup Jake ate tons of them,  went from 16 to 33 pounds in 2 weeks. Crapped nothing but bug hulls.

[MacGyver]

27 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

How does one field dress a cicada?

Remove the wings, head, and lower joint on the legs.

If you’re so inclined.  

[gregintenn]

20 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

Remove the wings, head, and lower joint on the legs.

If you’re so inclined.  

And eat the doodie?

[NoBanStan]

I caught my dog going to the cicada buffet in the yard earlier. Probably should of told the wife before she got her kisses after work. Ah well

[TennesseeCamper]

No! Nope, not even remotely appetizing to me! 

[Garufa]

Social media’s obsession with cicadas has really gotten out of hand.  Yeah, this is a big, epic, “brood”, but some generation comes out every…single…year.

[TennesseeCamper]

16 minutes ago, Garufa said:

Social media’s obsession with cicadas has really gotten out of hand.  Yeah, this is a big, epic, “brood”, but some generation comes out every…single…year.

For a while they were stories about them on the news almost every single day. It is ridiculous.