As the plague of 17-year cicadas descends across the eastern and midwestern United States, some people have decided that they are low-carb, gluten-free delicacy. This insectivore trend spurred the US Food and Drug Administration to tweet an official warning: "Don't eat #cicadas if you're allergic to seafood as these insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters."
However if you're not allergic but are culinarily curious, National Geographic published a recipe for Candied Cicadas.
And from the New York Times:
Some prefer them deep fried and others like them tossed into their Caesar salad. Bun Lai, the chef of a sustainable sushi restaurant in Connecticut, will present them in a fine-dining experience at his farm. And Frank's RedHot, the 100-year-old hot sauce brand, released a string of cicada recipes including: caramel 'cada corn, chili lime 'cada tacos and a cicada "parm" slider[…]
But insects and crustaceans belong to the arthropod family. And according to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the potential allergenic risks associated with edible insects needed further investigation.
People with existing allergies to crustaceans may develop allergic reactions to edible insects, which contain similar proteins, the report said.
image: Pmjacoby (CC BY-SA 4.0)
