Cicadas??!!

[ak]

Holy Cicadas batman! Those things are EVERYWHERE! Man when I first heard about cicadas this year, I laughed. Heehee these silly Americans...we get cicadas every year in Japan. What's the big deal...? Then, two weeks ago, they started to come out. They are literally everywhere! I can't walk on the sidewalk near work because there are 100's of them chilling or dead. This is nuts. Today, I must have hit like 10 of them in my car on the way to work....They are loud as heck too...like a broken AC unit.

Does anyone have good/bad/funny cicada stories? Yesterday, I was golfing with a friend and as we were riding in a cart, a cicada flew right into us and it fell into my friend's shirt. My friend screamed like a girl and I was laughing so hard I almost drove the cart into a pond. If it flew into me, we'd be in a pond for sure.

 

[donwon]

Its not good/bad/funny but....
if you grab one, and pull on the front two legs ...the whole head pops off.

 

[MsKadyB]

Its not good/bad/funny but....
if you grab one, and pull on the front two legs ...the whole head pops off.

Whoa...that's cool!

 

[JDMnsxR]

what do cicadas look like? and man, the whole head popping thing sounds crazy....

 

[ak]

what do cicadas look like? and man, the whole head popping thing sounds crazy....

damn you californians....

 

[JDMnsxR]

DAHhh.... bugs freak me out.... so these things are all over the east coast area? wow... i'd so freak out on a day to day basis....

 

[ekin95]

I used to collect their shells out of trees when I was a little kid a loooong time ago. I would just pluck them off the tree or shoot them down w/ a rubberband and put them in a box to see how many I could get in a day and then torment my babysitter w/ the shells that day. But when you could catch a live one, that was a treat back then. I still hear them every summer in Michigan and still see them all the time but they are not a problem here like in other places.

 

[sjs]

They come in specific cycles. I think this is the 17 year variety, and I don't recall the others. You think it's bad now, the years when two cycles hit together it is nuts.

 

[sjs]

More than you want to know...

For these Periodical Cicadas, this takes 17 years — or at least it’s “supposed” to. Most of the Periodical Cicadas in the northern part of the U.S. are on 17-year cycles, while most of those in the southern parts are on 13-year cycles. Thus, some Periodical Cicada experts feel that there are three species of 17-year cicadas and three species of 13-year cicadas for a total of six species, while other researchers feel that there is a total of only three species, and that the 13- vs 17-year cycles are genetically-controlled (like brown vs blue eyes in people). Here in the Cincinnati area, the emergences of Brood X every 17 years are well-documented for at least the last 100 years, and we know that they are due, again, in 2004. However, in 1983, four years before the big 1987 emergence, there was a small emergence. This year (2000), there is a considerable “small” emergence occuring in the greater Cincinnati area, four years before the upcoming 2004 emergence.

...In many cultures around the world, people eat cicadas, too. The ancient Greeks considered cicadas a delicacy. Many tribes of Native Americans ate cicadas both before and after the colonists arrived. Cicadas are eaten in Australia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and Japan. In the society section of the June 2, 1902 Cincinnati Enquirer, an account was given of a party where cicada-rhubarb pie was served. In 1987 in Cincinnati a number of people took the opportunity to try batter-dipped, deep-fried cicadas or cicada stir fry and a certain radio station enraged a certain pizza company. In 1990 in Chicago, cicada-eating was so popular that it made the pages of Time Magazine. Just make sure the neighbors haven’t been using insecticide. Mmmmm...

Cicada Stir-Fry: Ingredients

minced onion, coriander (cilantro), fresh gingerroot
sliced carrots, chopped cauliflower and/or broccoli
water chestnuts and/or other vegetables of your choice
bean sprouts and snow peas
blanched, teneral cicadas
In a wok or other suitable pan, heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add ingredients in the order listed above when those in the most recent addition are partially cooked. Serve over whole-grain (“brown”) rice and add soy sauce to taste.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/steincarter/cicadas.htm

I guess here in Missouri we get both the north and south varieties, hence the rare overlap.

 

[tochigidream]

I used to collect their shells out of trees when I was a little kid a loooong time ago. But when you could catch a live one, that was a treat back then.

Funny, I used to do that too. I'd watch them shed their shell, too sometimes. They look like brand new after this.. until I squished them. This was when I lived in SD.
When I moved with my family, here to Spokane, we'd catch praying mantis and feed grasshoppers to them. It was cool to us, because they'd always chew off the head first, while the legs were still kickin'.. hehehe. Ahh, so simple to be a kid.

 

[JDMnsxR]

dahh.... bugs bugs bugs.... by the the UGLIEST of all bug species HAS to be the potato bug..... if there was a swarm of THESE suckers, i'd want to kill myself

 

[Kroger]

In my area of ohio we are not affected by them this year... We were blessed (i believe 4 years ago) with them everywhere. I can remember walking up to friends houses at night and hearing them crunch under my feet, there was no way to avoid them wherever you went.

My buddy in cincinnati has just started to hear them. They are going to be hit hard it was said... Talk about a big bug to wipe off the car when driving down the highway

 

[Jeff A]

Here's a recent cicada blurb from FoxNews.com. Evidently you have to be careful if you eat cicadas!



Man Discovers Too Late He's Allergic to Cicadas

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — A man who cooked and ate nearly 30 cicadas sought medical treatment after suffering a strong allergic reaction to the sautéed insects.

The man showed up at a Bloomington clinic Thursday covered from head-to-toe in hives, and sheepishly told a doctor he'd caught and eaten the cicadas after sautéing them in butter with crushed garlic and basil.

"He said they didn't taste too bad, but his wife didn't care for the aroma," said Dr. Al Ripani, the doctor who treated the man at Promptcare East.

The man, who has a history of asthma and shellfish allergies, suffered a "significant allergic reaction," after eating the cicadas, Ripani said.

He said he gave the man antihistamines, steroids and a shot of adrenaline, then observed him for two hours before sending him home.

After living underground for 17 years and feeding on tree roots, the so-called Brood X cicadas are emerging by the billions across the eastern U.S.

Ripani said recent newspaper articles extolling the tastiness of cicada cuisine should have warned people that dining on the bugs can be dangerous for some people.

"Severe food allergies such as this can be fatal," he said. "I feel that needs to be stressed in these articles."

He said the University of Maryland's department of entomology's Cicada-licious cookbook, which includes recipes for Cicada Stir-Fry and Cicada Dumplings, contains a disclaimer urging people to consult a doctor before eating cicadas.

"We ask that you please take special caution if you have other food allergies, such as soy, nuts or shellfish, or if you know of any contact allergies that you may have to other insects," it states.

 

[tochigidream]

^^^

I HOPE none of us have to worry about that!

 

[MsKadyB]

That's gross. I know Asians eat weird stuff, too, but still...... =x