3 Fun & Easy Tips for Spending Your 2013 Memorial Day BBQ… with Cicadas
Ah, Memorial Day. Time to soak up the sun (this weather notwithstanding), fire up the grill, and get outside to enjoy that very first rite of summer’s unofficial beginning — the all-American cookout. Except this particular American summer, like each summer every 17 years on the East Coast before it, has a certain shared airspace peculiarity: cicadas. The sex-craven bugs have arrived from the underground and have been spotted in backyards all the way from down in Louisiana, up to New York, and onto Massachusetts. But fear not, BBQ-ers! The Atlantic Wire’s resident cicada expert is here to help! Indeed, cicadas and humans alike can celebrate this long weekend in peace, together.
Cicada BBQ Tip No. 1: Do Not Eat Each Other at the Cicada-cue!
Many of us look forward to this particular weekend for that first outdoor grill session — and this Memorial Day shouldn’t be any different than any of the last 16 Memorial Days before it. Fear not, BBQ-ers! Just because some sensational newspapers have suggested that the insect crunchers might taste good, you probably don’t want to put cicadas on your cookout menu. The Atlantic’s James Hamblin makes a compelling case: “It’s less about eating screaming bugs, and more about eating things that have been in the ground for 17 years,” he writes. Also, have you seen the photos and videos of dudes attempting to eat the bugs? Even the guy pretending to look happy doesn’t look happy. Do you really want to be eating something that cats and dogs find delicious?
https://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/05/2013-memorial-day-bbq-cicadas/65560/