Bug-Cooking Chef Says Illinois Residents Should Eat Cicadas

Two different broods of cicadas are emerging throughout Illinois this spring. With billions of these noisy creatures everywhere, one chef suggests rounding up a few and eating them. He says you can add them to anything from a stir fry to tempura and kimchi and you can even add a cicada to your desserts.

Why Are So Many Cicadas Emerging in Illinois

Once every 13 or 17 years Periodical cicadas arrive in big numbers and this year two broods are coming.

Brood XIII makes an appearance every 17 years, while Brood XIX pops up every 13 years. This year, they’re going to have to learn to share, as they’ll be wriggling topside together.

According to the experts, periodical cicadas emerge in 17- and 13-year cycles, and these two groups — Brood XIII and Brood XIX — appear at the same time only once every 221 years.

If millions of cicadas are turning Spring 2024 into Cicadapocalypse, that means our trees and decks will be covered in billions of cicada eggs.

At this point, how's your stomach? If it's still attached to your body, you're doing better than a cicada with an STD.  Yes, even cicadas need to be concerned with the spread of a sexually transmitted pathogen that turns into a fungus on the males that will eat away at their stomachs and reproductive organs until they fall off.

Now, how's your stomach?

Can You Eat Cicadas

Chef Joseph Yoon says you absolutely can, and you should. Joseph is an Edible Insect Ambassador and a world-renowned chef. He spends a great deal of time promoting “entomophagy,” or eating insects, through his organization, Brooklyn Bugs.

Since cicadas will soon be all over your yard, trees, deck, and more, why not go grab one up and eat it?

I don't know if I have the stomach for eating a cicada.

To date, the only bugs I've eaten have been accidental, while on one of the world's best rollercoasters, Goliath, at Great America.

Eating batter-covered fried things brings me some joy, but this batter-fried cicada below does not!

MORE: Here’s the Next Illinois Shopping Mall Closing Its Doors Forever

Get our free mobile app

MORE: One of Your Favorite Illinois Malls is Closing for Good

MORE: Many Illinois Shopping Malls Are Closing, One Is Thriving

Which one of those three cicada stages do you think is the most delicious, the nymph, teneral, or adult?

According to Yoon, it is the nymph. He told WBBM, “The inside of the cicada nymphs have so much meat in them. They've been eating for 13 or 17 years.”

That's it I'm tapping out! Here, look at these stupid Illinois parking jobs.

MORE: Another Once-Popular Illinois Shopping Mall Has Closed for Good