Brood X cicada recipes add extra crunch to your meals. Want a taste? – CNET

If you want to keep your meal prep simple, throw some fried cicadas into a pan of noodles and veggies and call it a day.
Richard Ellis/Getty Images

If you’re looking for a little more crunch, consider pairing some chips with a nice cicada guacamole, also by Yoon. Start by combining mashed avocado with salt and pepper, squeeze some lemon on top, and sauté red onions, jalapeños, chili peppers and garlic. Throw in some blanched cicada nymphs and you’re all set.
Oddly enough, a Google search for “cicada recipes” pulls up several ways to cook various species of these insects, from topping your pizza with them to squeezing them between some bread for a crunchy, extra meaty sandwich. Twitter has also been buzzing with conversations about these offbeat meal ideas, and chef Joseph Yoon has been sharing different ways to eat cicadas through his Instagram and Twitter account Brooklyn Bugs.

Now, why would you do that if there are so many other (arguably less creepy) things to eat? Well, many people are looking for alternative ways to consume protein to offset the environmental impact of raising cattle, for instance, which requires lots of space, water and other resources. Insects, on the other hand, emit fewer greenhouse gasses and can boast more protein than meat.
cicada-pizza
Entertain your brain with the coolest news from streaming to superheroes, memes to video games.

Cicada nymph spring salad

CNET Culture

Cicada nymph chili guacamole

Your next meal awaits.

Cicada kimchi

Chocolate covered cicadas

Cicada nymph chocolate with 24k gold

In case you haven’t heard, trillions of Brood X cicadas are emerging for the first time in 17 years this spring. These critters spend the majority of their lives underground and come out for at least three to four weeks for a massive mating frenzy, and they’re showing up in 15 US states and Washington, DC, leading some to turn to pest control. But there’s another — perhaps more, let’s say, natural — way to manage this massive insect emergence: eat them.

Chocolate covered cicadas — Brooklyn Bugs

Cicada ramen

ramen-cicadas

Cicada pizza

Now onto the main course. Yoon also cooks up a cicada kimchi with kennip, brown rice, cucumber and mint. It’s all very artfully plated, and if you’re uneasy about those little red eyes staring you down while you eat, you’ll be happy to know you can’t even spot the crushed-up critters in this dish. There’s also a dash of extra protein, as the kimchi paste is mixed with cricket powder before the blanched cicada nymphs are tossed in.