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Science Quickly

Snacking on Cicadas Is Nutritious, Sustainable, and—Yes—Delicious

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A “double brood” of cicadas is taking over much of the eastern half of the U.S. They’re loud and abundant. Have you considered–eating them? Chef Joseph Yoon, founder of Brooklyn Bugs, explains how to harvest and feast upon this year’s “double brood” and the many benefits of adding insects to our diet.   Related Reading: – Periodical Cicadas Emerge Every 13 or 17 Years. How Do They Keep Track of Time? – Can You Eat Cicadas? Can Your Dog Do So?  E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Kelso Harper, Carin Leong, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman, with guest Joseph Yoon of Brooklyn Bugs. Our show is edited by Elah Feder, Alexa Lim, Madison Goldberg and Anaissa Ruiz Tejada, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yachtold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:20.1

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

0:32.3

Maybe it's a delicacy. Maybe it's something that we enjoy doing. Maybe we just want to have a butterfried

0:40.5

chocolate-covered cicada because it's delicious. If your lawn is currently flooded with

0:51.4

cicadas, you might be looking for a way to get rid of these noisy

0:54.7

little invaders. But have you thought about just eating them? Some cultures consider insects

1:00.9

a delicacy, and billions of humans eat them on a regular basis. Others relegate bug consumption

1:06.4

to schoolyard dares and those weird little novelty lollipops. Remember those?

1:11.4

But increasingly, skeptical folks are coming around to the idea that insects might just taste good.

1:18.0

Flimmy yet satisfying.

1:20.5

And I've brought in my favorite insect eating ambassador and chef, Joseph Yun,

1:24.7

to tell us all about nymph kimchi, deep-fried cicadas, and other delicious

1:29.5

dishes you can prepare with ingredients plucked fresh from your own backyard. For Scientific American

1:36.0

Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Fultman. My name is Joseph Youen. I'm the chef and founder of Brooklyn Bugs and also an edible insect ambassador.

1:52.0

And we have had a lifelong love of insects, but we've never really considered eating or cooking them in a serious manner until 2017,

2:03.6

when an artist approached us to work on an art project to help conquer her fear of insects by eating them.

2:12.6

And I said yes immediately because I love to think about ways to integrate art into my life

2:22.3

and into my work.

2:23.3

When I began researching edible insects, I came upon the UN's FAO, the Food and Agricultural

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