Monday, May 20, 2013

Cicadas at Miyas

Bun Lai of Miya's Sushi is the chef mentioned in this video.   He plans on placing cicadas on the menu when the droning begins.  If you think to yourself, while listening to them this summer, "I could just eat one of them," then Miyas is probably the place to be.

This is what cicadas sound like:

Cicadas sound like a thousand mini-maracas, all played in unison, with no particular rhythmic pattern.  It might be useful to listen to the above field recording, and skip to about 2:00 when the cicadas are the most prevalent.

This was discovered because back in 1996, everybody said "man there goes a whole lot of bugs!"  That's when Donny Beans checked the history book and discovered the last time somebody had said that before, it was in 1979 (his father remembers it).  But it turns out a scientist back in 1962 had figured out a way to communicate with cicadas, whereby the only thing they say is "Seventeen years!  Seventeen years!"

Source:  BusinessInsider
Cicadas come in "broods" which are large swarms of insects that travel together.  These "broods" go in cycles of once every 17 years.  They travel, in this case, up the coastline of the East Case, mostly following the weather patterns and the pattern "north."

If they travelled "south" however, that would spell trouble for the folks down in Florida, who already have problems with burmese pythons, alligators, and RiFF RaFF.

"If I was wood, you still couldn't knock me," he says.

This is not a cicada.  It's a shrimp (read article)
People grossed out by eating cicadas should also be grossed out by eating kinds of seafood that involve shells, called shellfish.  These are probably people who have never eaten a lobster, or even peeled a shrimp's thin layer.

Which is why it makes sense why cicadas belong on a sushi / seafood menu.

Bun doesn't expect to start a bug-eating craze in America.  But he could be part of a wider movement toward sustainability in which the pioneers are given credit for the advances in that particular area.

Which is why it makes total sense that a Sushi place would be serving cicadas.  They're shelled, they fly (instead of swim) and they're full of energy called 'proteins' (which often taste good to our senses).

Here is the real question (asserting that more seafood lovers will also enjoy cicadas):

girl, munching on asian shorecrab
Have you ever munched on an asian shorecrab?
and if so, then you should try cicadas.

Are you a person who only enjoys steak and ham?
then perhaps you have an aversion to shells


Are You Gonna be Trying the Cicadas at Miya's this Summer?  answer below or on Facebook.

This is what Bun Lai has to say about the decision:

"Two and a half acres of land can produce about 250 pounds of beef that is full of heart attack inducing saturated fats and pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormone. Beef production, also, releases more heat trapping green house gases than any other food. Also, factory farms are hideously inhumane. If we are going to mass produce animals for food then perhaps we should be mass producing animals that are lower on the food chain, not mammals that feel joy and suffer very much in the same way humans do.
Two and a half acres of land can produce about 2000 pounds of insects. Insects contain about the same amount of protein as a steak and much less saturated fats. And, unlike mammals and many types of our most popular farmed fish, they are ideal for factory farming because they are resilient and can thrive piled one upon the other. If we all ate insects instead of mammals, there would be a measurable impact on Climate Change. Climate Change will result in more floods, droughts, wars, terrorism and starvation than we have ever experienced in human history.  It has become clear that our life choices are effecting everything and everyone on the planet.
Eating insects is, to me, mostly about changing the way we look things. Individual changes in perception can lead to individual changes in behavior which, in turn, can lead to vast cultural transformations. If you, as an individual, can change the way you look at things, you can have a huge impact on the world. We certainly don’t have to start eating insects, to make the world a better place, but we can make an effort to eat in a way that is much more open and aware.
That said, you really gotta try my cicadas. I promise you, they will be scrumptious." -Bun Lai