Are Cicada Tacos Coming to New Jersey?
Any minute now cicadas are expected to pop out from under the ground and make themselves known to residents up and down New Jersey. Researchers are calling this group, Blood X. They have apparently been underground for 17 years and have been waiting for soil temperature to be warm enough to come out. It won't be until 2038 that we see this group again.
According to Mccall.com, the cicadas we are about to see can only be found in the eastern parts of the United States so of course that means right here in the Garden State Even though they aren't to be confused with locust, they sure to resemble them. Cicadas loud screams are a sound I remember from when I was about 9 years old, and don't look forward to hearing again. According to NJ.com, thousands were seen in the Princeton area of Mercer County. just this past weekend!
This is an infestation I'm sure none of us were looking forward to. However, what if there was a way to get rid of some of them? What if we ate them? A restaurant in Virginia has started something that might become a trend across the eastern part of the country. Cicada Tacos! A Mexican restaurant in Leesburg, Virginia called '0Cocina on Market' is serving CICADA TACOS for a limited time.
According to The Takeout, the head chef himself goes and gathers these insects from the trees and brings them straight to the restaurant to be cooked. According to The Takeout, Chef Tobias Padovano boils them, bakes them, then removes their legs and wings. Then the cicadas are sauteed in onion and garlic and topped with serranos, avocado, and radish, all in a mole verde sauce, and served in flour tortillas.
Apparently cicadas are a great source a protein. Some even say they taste like shrimp. So since these insects will be out in full force all over New Jersey, should local restaurants help eliminate some of the population by making them into tacos?
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