Video below: An adult cicada hatches out.
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Bugging Out, Tucking In
"Illinoisans can expect unwanted visitors this spring -- cicadas --," wrote the Herald News on March 2, "and University of Illinois Extension has a new Web site to help people cope."
Cope? Heck, I'm gonna eat me some of those critters. Some of us are eagerly looking forward to the 17 year cicada's return, or should I say emergence, this summer. We anticipate them with Pavlovian reaction, wanting only to kill the little buggers - and eat them.
Shrimp are just as ugly, after all, and what the heck does a raw oyster remind you of? The clean little cicada is a delicacy, and we intend to have an orgy of entomological gastronomy, complete with hot sauce and olive oil.
No, I am not kidding. Cicadas are considered a delicacy by millions. "Cicadas can be found around the world. Aristotle described them, noting that they were best eaten just after they shed their covering on emerging from the ground. They were a favorite food of Native Americans," writes Mother Linda on her web site. Also from Mother Linda: Cicada Cocktail.
The Chinese love 'em. Europeans love 'em. What do you mean you don't like them. Have you tried them? Finish your dinner or you don't get dessert. Don't give me that look. Eat.
It takes no more imagination to come with a good recipe for cicada than it does for any other food, really.
Read about our friend the cicada! "After spending nearly two decades living in underground tunnels sucking sap from the roots of trees and shrubs, millions of cicadas emerged from the ground in May and June." Yes, and we're gonna eat as many of them as we can. Hey, it's free food. Get some government cheese to go with your cicada salad and you've got lunch!
Also see http://cicado.com/ for photos and recipes.
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You and Westgard need help.
ReplyDeleteCicada eating. What have we become?
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope Joe Moore steps in FAST and introduces an ordinance in that august body, our very own City Council (or does the CC really just belong only to the Alderguy's friends?) to ban such cruel and potentially health damaging activities here in the 49th ward.
Why such a ban you might reasonably ask yourself? Friend, the risks are great and immediate. The challenge looms over our citizenry today! We owe it to our children to address this issue, before it becomes endemic in our society.
First of all, these cicadas you are proposing to eat have not been inspected by the city health department. No cicada inspection fee has been levied or collected. Thus, this potentially illegal activity has not as yet added in any way to the the city coffers. These 17 year cicadas belong to the Citizens of Chicago, and as such can not be consumed with out proper inspection, certification, and the collection of appropriate user fees.
Second, there is a clear and pervasive public health risk posed when citizens congregate to gorge on cicadas. Both the legs and wings can negatively impact the health and welfare of the gorgee. In the course of overindulging, both the legs and wings can trigger the natural purge/gag reflex. This phenomenon is most likely to affect young women, especially thin blond college age women who have also consumed alcoholic beverages while consuming cicadas. When triggered, this reflex can expose non-eaters to second hand cicada. The health and environmental risks are obvious.
In fact, cicadas may represent a new form of “gateway activity”, leading to the consumption of other banned gastronomical substances. Just as slang terms for drug use are common, the youth culture has embraced the term “munchin’ bug” to describe the uncontrolled or peer-pressured consumption of cicadas. While no data is as yet available, there are indications that early consumption of cicadas can lead to the consumption of other banned foods.
Additionally, the cruel and inhuman treatment of these most beautiful creatures, by those who insist on eating them, should be considered. These cicadas have been cooling their heels in the muck and the mire for 17 long years, waiting for their big prom night to roll around. And we all know what teenagers do on prom night. Yes, it is the moment all red-blooded 17 year old cicadas dream of (not to forget that they are red-eyed too). The prom dresses come off, and the cicadas get down. Can you imagine their pain? Can you imagine their despair? At the very moment of their most perfect cicada joy, the completion of the great cicada circle of life, the moment they have quietly imagined for their 17 long insect underground years, that very moment when their exoskeletal existence is finally justified, they are snatched from the very claws of ecstasy and flung into the saucepan of our greedy lives (along with garlic, olive oil and white pepper). Is this Right? Is this Just? I for one say NO! I for one say this must Not Stand! I for one say Rogers Park is better than this cruelty!
We can only hope our Aldermanic Representatives in the City Council will stand and fight to set right this injustice, and to protect the community from its long term effects. In the past, they have demonstrated the wisdom and leadership necessary to rid our city of the scourge of Foie Gras. Now, rampant cicada eating is raising its ugly head in our community. Unless stopped, this plague will leave Rogers Park the laughing stock of northern Illinois. The citizens of the adjacent states, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky, as well as the people of the world are all watching. What will they see?
Please Joe Moore, I implore you! On the behalf of all of Rogers Park, I call upon you to do your duty! Cicada eaters are among us. Save us from them, and save them from themselves!
RPBooster
My mouth is already watering at the thought of those meaty morsels sauteeing in garlic, olive oil and pepper.
ReplyDeleteThe next most obvious question is, what wine best complements insect meat?