Parody Prints

In May of 2024, periodical cicadas are due to emerge from the soil in northern Illinois for the first time in 17 years to spend three to four weeks as adult insects. These cicadas are harmless to humans and pets—they cannot sting, bite, or pinch—but there will be many millions of them.

Tempura Cicadas (courtesy of Borgerson for Montclair State University)

Ingredients: 

• 15 cicadas
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup of flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Cold seltzer
• Oil for frying

While your oil is preheating in a deep pan, use a bowl to combine the flour, salt and egg. Slowly pour the seltzer into the flour bowl and mix until it reaches a pancake batter-like consistency. Place the mixture in the fridge until oil is properly heated, at which point you'll coat each cicada in the batter and then fry until golden brown. 

Cicadas feed on sap; they do not bite or sting in a true sense, but may occasionally mistake a person's arm for a plant limb and attempt to feed. Male cicadas produce very loud calls that can damage human hearing.

Cicadas are not major agricultural pests, but in some outbreak years, trees may be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of females laying their eggs in the shoots. Small trees may wilt and larger trees may lose small branches. Although in general, the feeding activities of the nymphs do little damage