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Photos: US chef serves up cicadas as sustainable 'Brood X' delicacy
After 17 years underground, swarms of cicadas are emerging across the eastern United States -- and for one Washington chef, the rare bug invasion was his cue for a cookout, with a side of food ethics. Bun Lai, an advocate for the sustainable food movement, invited locals for an insect hunt in a city park over the weekend, followed by a taste of his fried cicada sushi.
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Published on May 25, 2021 03:29 pm IST
Magicicada periodical cicada nymph clings to the empty shell of a previously molted cicada on May 21 in Takoma Park, Maryland. Billions of periodical cicadas, members of the Brood X emergence, are coming out of the ground in the eastern United States and Midwest to molt, mate, lay eggs and die after living underground since 2004 -- all against the backdrop of the deafening noise that males make to attract females..(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP)
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Chef Bun Lai (C), along with friends, collects cicadas and invasive edible plants to cook with at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23. Bun is a leader in the sustainable food movement, and cooks cicadas to help open the conversation to alternative ways to eat that are less destructive than traditional farming, which he sees as non-sustainable.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Chef Bun Lai (R) and friends collecting cicadas to cook with at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23. Using his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Bun announced when he would be catching and cooking a few -- and then sharing them free of charge. "Free cicada hunt and cookout," Bun tweeted. "Bring ingredients to cook with and join me in getting creative or just eat!"(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Chef Bun Lai prepares to make fried cicada sushi at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23. Over the weekend, the Hong Kong-born American chef showed residents how to harvest, cook and prepare cicadas as a way to talk about alternative methods of farming and eating.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Cicadas are seen in a jar as a charcoal fire is started before they are cooked for a sushi recipe by Chef Bun Lai at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23. "In a world where we're suffering from the biggest pandemic in history -- which is not Covid, but diet-related diseases -- we're going to have to take a revolutionary approach to how we're used to eating," Bun told AFP.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Chef Bun Lai seasons cicadas as he fries them at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23. For those who answered the call, the culinary adventure began by collecting some of the tastiest-looking bugs. Stella Roque, a 36-year-old who grew up with a fear of insects, was not overly eager, but viewed it as a way to overcome her phobia. "I'm here today because Bun Lai invited me to try cooked cicadas, and I thought it was going to be an interesting experience," she told AFP.(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Fried cicadas are rolled into a sushi roll by Chef Bun Lai at Fort Totten Park in Washington, DC on May 23.The chef seasoned the cicadas with salt before frying them in a large skillet. Finally, the fried insects were rolled into sushi, getting wrapped in large leaves with rice and vegetables, before being served. Roque, expecting the worst, said she was in fact "delightfully surprised."(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP)
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Published on May 25, 2021 03:29 pm IST