An Ohio restaurant seems to have found a use for the Brood X cicadas pestering parts of the Midwest. The Pizza Bandit in Dayton tested out a Spicy Thai Cicada Pie.
Yes, that’s a pizza with cicadas on it.
Before you get too excited — or repulsed — know that the restaurant is not selling cicada-topped pizzas. In a Facebook post showing off the new creation, the business noted, “We’re not even sure if we legally can sell you locally foraged Cicadas.”
The restaurant did livestream a tasting panel trying out the pizza, which also featured miso hoisin sriracha sauce, mozzarella, provolone, mushrooms, cabbage, green onion, mango, cilantro and a spicy Thai sauce.
“Opinions of the pizza range from absolutely delicious to…well…uh…yeah…,” the Facebook post said.
While cicadas are not toxic, the US Food and Drug Administration has warned people not to eat the insects if they are allergic to seafood. “These insects share a family relation to shrimp and lobsters,” the FDA said.