Storm Team4 Chief Meteorologist Doug Kammerer ate gourmet cicada dishes. The last course: a cicada-rubbed grilled flank steak made by Xavier Deshayes, Executive Chef for the Ronald Reagan Building.
Bug appétit!
You’ve heard of the Brood X cicadas that have emerged after 17 years underground — maybe you’ve even heard them singing in your own yard.
But have you thought of eating them? Storm Team4 Chief Meteorologist Doug Kammerer tried gourmet cicada dishes to let you know what it's like to chow down on Brood X.
The mental aspect — knowing he was eating insects — was the hardest thing to overcome.
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Doug said the dishes tasted good, but the texture was highly unusual.
“When you swallow it, you can feel the cicada going down. I mean, you really can, because the texture of it is so different,” Doug said.
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Tommy McFly played party-planner and brought in Xavier Deshayes, Executive Chef for the Ronald Reagan Building, in to plan a full gourmet menu.
The appetizer was a Caesar salad with crispy cicada croutons. That was followed by a cicada-rubbed grilled flank steak, beef and cicada chili dogs and chocolate-covered cicadas.
“It’s very good. I mean, I’m not ordering this at a restaurant,” Kammerer said after taking a bite of the hot dog. “But it’s very good.”
Eating cicadas is totally safe (unless you have shellfish allergies), entomologists and food experts told News4.
They are also high in protein and have some minerals and vitamins, Jess Fanzo, Ph.D., professor of global food policy and ethics at Johns Hopkins University and author of the upcoming book “Can Fixing Dinner Fix the Planet?” told TODAY.
Eating them could also be good for the environment.
"Cicadas are of course a very sustainable alternative protein source as far as the environment is concerned," Fanzo said.
