A New Haven chef is looking forward to the upcoming cicada invasion, and the chance to try out a few recipes for the insects.
Bun Lai, owner of Miya's Sushi in New Haven, is already known for his Mexican grasshopper dish and his fried rice with meal worms and crickets.
"I promise to make the #cicadas taste as if they were born to be relished by you," Lai told one customer via Twitter.
He plans to fill a big freezer full of Brood II cicadas, according to the New Haven Register.
"I'm going to catch a whole bunch of them and preserve them for future eating. I plan on eating a whole bunch myself," Lai told the paper.
The Brood II cicadas emerge from the ground every 17 years. Billions of the noisy bugs are expected to begin coming to the surface along the East Coast in the next few weeks.
Lai said he plans to cook them for himself and maybe do some theme dinners.
"Insects are far healthier for our bodies than eating meat," he told the Register.
In fact, some experts call cicadas the "shrimp of the land" and consider the bugs to be a rare delicacy.
Lai says they have great nutritional value and his recipes will honor that, meaning no deep frying. He plans to steam some and boil others with the appropriate spices.
