Paleo Foraging

Food

Adults & nymphs – were eaten by American Indians and by cultures throughout the world.

The Cahuilla, Northern Paiute, Owens Valley Paiute, Panamint, Shoshone, and Washo ate Cicadas (Sutton 1988). Species eaten include Diceroprocta apache / Citrus cicada, and probably all species in the area, if sufficiently abundant (Sutton 1988). Since cicadas do not occur in large concentrations either commonly or annually, they may not have been an important food resource (Sutton 1988).

Mesquite groves harbored various insects relished by the Cahuilla, such as cicadas and grasshoppers (Bean and Saubel 1972:115). Cicadas were roasted whole on open coals and were considered a high delicacy (Bean and Saubel 1972:115).

Cicadas were an important food source of the Gosiute (Chamberlin 1911:336). They were dried and stored for winter use (Chamberlin 1911:336). They were eaten fresh, after removing their head and appendages, or cooked (Chamberlin 1911:337).

Adults – The only type of insect eaten by the Navajo (besides honey) was the cicada (Wyman and Bailey 1964). Usually, the wings and legs were removed, sometimes the head, before the rest of the bodies were roasted in hot ashes (Wyman and Bailey 1964). Other methods were to burn off the wings and legs and eat them with salt, to grind them whole with salt to eat, to remove the wings and legs and fry the bodies, or to eat them raw (Wyman and Bailey 1964). Their taste was considered similar to peanuts, popcorn, or crackerjack, and sweet (Wyman and Bailey 1964). The Navajo also considered eating cicadas to be very healthy, and to help cure a variety of ailments, from sores and asthma to broken bones and smallpox (Wyman and Bailey 1964).

Nymphs – the Onondaga were known to dig up, dry roast or stir-fry, and eat the nymphs of Magicicada septendecim / Periodical cicada (Waugh 1916:138-139).

Species eaten by southwestern Indians:

Beameria venosa

Diceroprocta apache / Citrus cicada

Magicicada septendecim / Periodical cicada

Okanagana bella Davis

Okanagana cruentifera Uhler

Okanagana magnifica

Okanagana bella

Okanagana striatipes var. beameri

Platypedia areolata Uhler

Tibicen bifida

Tibicen duryi

(Ebeling 1986, Sutton 1988, Wyman and Bailey 1964).

Species eaten in Japan, Malawi, Thailand, and Zambia:

Cosmopsatria sp.

Dundulia sp.

Graptopsaltria nigrofaciata

Ioba leopardina

Loba spp.

Monomatapa spp.

Orapa Malawi

Platypleura spp.

Platypleura stridulata

Pyonaspp.

Rihana sp.

Ugada limbalis

Adults – in Malawi, the cicadas, called “nyenje,” had their wings removed and were fried with a little oil and salt.

In Thailand, adult cicadas were caught by looking for a fine mist under trees. That mist is actually made of cicada excrement. The tree was shaken at nighttime and when the cicadas fell, they were easily caught since they do not try to escape at night. They were fried or pounded and added to mango paste

(FIN 5(1):2, FIN 8(3):6,9, FIN 9(2):6)