Here’s Some Advice On Eating Cicadas From A Top Nutritionist

You may have heard that the trillions of cicadas emerging from beneath the ground this year as part of Brood X are edible. 

If you’re interested in the idea of eating them but aren’t sure where to start, we have you covered with cicada-consuming advice from Jessica Fanzo, the director of Johns Hopkins’ Global Food Ethics and Policy Program. Fanzo has tried the cicadas herself and she says they are both nutritious and delicious.

Ew. Why should anyone consider eating cicadas? 

Fanzo, who holds a Ph.D. in nutrition, said the trillions of cicadas emerging this year could be a good source of alternate, sustainable protein.

Although no one has done a nutritional composition of the cicadas, the nutritional composition is probably similar to other insects which are low in calories but high in protein and iron, said Fanzo. She said insects are more sustainable than larger animals like cows or pork.

If that’s true, why don’t more people eat bugs?

Insects might not be plentiful on menus in the United States, but they are a common part of many cultures’ cuisines, said Fanzo. She said there has been an increase in the popularity of insect powder that is mixed into protein powder or baked into chips in the US.

“What you see less of is people eating whole insects,” she said.

What do the cicadas taste like?

They have a unique flavor that can vary depending on location, said Fanzo. She said she thinks they are buttery with a nutty flavor. 

“They’re good, they’re really good,” she said.

Okay. What should I do if I want to try eating cicadas?

Start by finding them when they are still soft and grub-like, before they have fully developed their exoskeleton, said Fanzo.

Douglas Pfeiffer, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, said it only takes a few hours for cicadas to start to “harden up” after they emerge in their callow state. He advised picking them off tree trunks early in the morning.

Fanzo said she collected the soft-shelled cicadas in a ziplock bag and then put them in her freezer to kill them humanely. After they were dead, she boiled them for a few minutes to clean them off. 

 How you cook them after they are dead and cleaned is up to you. If you roast them with oil and salt they taste like a crunchy nut, Fanzo said. She has also fried them in a pan with sesame oil.

 “They’re kind of like little shrimp once you get over the ‘what am I eating factor,’” she said.

How long do I have to try the cicadas?

Cicadas should keep coming out until early June, according to University of Maryland entomology Michael Raupp. 

If you decide you want to eat cicadas for more than another week or two, you can collect extra and freeze them, said Fanzo.

Will eating cicadas hurt the survival of the species overall?

Scientists say it is doubtful. 

“I think it would take a real concerted effort to reduce the population,” said Pfeiffer. “The evolutionary approach that periodical cicadas use to minimize the impact of predation is predator satiation. But coming out all at once, predators are overwhelmed and can’t put a dent in their population. You could collect a lot without reducing the general population.”

He said some smaller cicada broods appear to have gone extinct, but not necessarily because they were eaten. There were originally about 30 broods, but now there are 15. A potential threat to cicadas comes from increasing urbanization, which might leave them with less habitat and less tree roots from which to feed.

Raupp also said he doesn’t think enough humans will eat the cicadas to make an impact on their population.

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