@georgetakei part of why cicadas have that weird 17 year cycle is because they are so darn tasty. It means predators cannot simply wait for them to emerge.
I have no qualms about eating them. It's merely learned disgust.
It is a real thing. You have to collect them just after their first molt when they are white. I don't think you marinate them alive. Besides being a bit cruel their shells will harden if they are living still. Probably should freeze them right away then can cook them later.
One of my cats as a kitten loved them when they first emerged. He ate one later after its shell hardened. I didn't like to see him in distress but his hopping around trying to pass it was a little funny.
@georgetakei my sisters dog loves them. Whenever tbey go out in cicada season its cronch cronch the whole time. She has to wipe the bug guts and parts off his mouth when he comes back in.
@georgetakei It is better/worse as there are 2 types coming out this cycle - Billions of cicadas are set to surface this spring as two different broods — one that appears every 13 years, and another every 17 years — emerge simultaneously. The 13-year group, known as Brood XIX, or the Great Southern Brood, is the largest periodical cicada brood, stretching across the southeastern United States. The Northern Illinois Brood, or Brood XIII, emerges every 17 years.