A meal with the Brood X factor
Brood X cicadas have made their way to Bloomington, Indiana but will they make it to our plates? Some adventurous foodies are keen to give them a go. They're high in protein, low in fat, better for the environment than many other protein sources and apparently they even taste good!
Are you brave enough? Let's take a look at one Bloomington cafe bringing the Brood X-factor into their menu this month:
Chirping or chocolate dipped?
What will you find this week at the Window from Bloomington's Le Petit Cafe?
"All The usual Suspects (Croque sandwiches with Brie and spinach, or ham and egg, sweet crêpes, etc)" they say. "Plus a Very Unusual Suspect: olive oil cake with rosemary and cicadas."
They'll also be serving up cake at Saturday's Festival at the Sinkhole event in Bloomington, with or without chocolate dipped cicadas on top depending on how adventerous you're feeling.
"Do not be afraid, you can see on the tip of my finger the biggest body part you will find in your piece of cake, I am quite sure you have already swallowed worse things than that without even knowing it (not here, of course).
Besides, don't you find the thought of those cicadas in a bed of rosemary poetic? I call it a happy ending, I would love to rest in a bed of fresh herbs and chocolate." --Le Petit Cafe, Bloomington
Is it safe to eat cicadas?
Insects are eaten in many cultures and cicadas are perfectly safe to eat. And you're not eating full grown cicadas either. They are collected for eating around the molting stage, before they form their crunchy exoskeleton, so they're actually quite tender.
Jessica Fanzo, the director of Johns Hopkins’ Global Food Ethics and Policy Program, told Forbes, "the nutritional composition is probably similar to other insects which are low in calories but high in protein and iron."
But do they taste okay? Fanzo thinks so. She says they taste a bit nutty.
“They're good, they're really good,” she said.
They are similar to shrimp or lobster though, so if you're allergic to shellfish perhaps give cicada cake a miss and choose one of the other delicious treats at the Bloomington cafe instead.
Do not feel squeamish about eating a cicada because.... And I have the feeling I'm going to sabotage the sales of my next chocolate mousse here...."The average chocolate bar contains eight insect parts (okay, maybe not a whole insect, got it). Anything less than 60 insect parts per 100 g of chocolate is deemed safe for consumption by the FDA" --Le Petit Cafe, Bloomington
Are you up for the challenge?
Cicadas will be around Bloomington for the next few weeks. This brood have been under ground for 17 years, but they only last above ground for a very short time.
It's a rare chance for Bloomington residents to give our taste buds something new!
Will you try one?