This is no joke. At Princeton High School there is a club made up of about 50 students whose purpose is to eat insects. And with cicadas just starting to emerge, have they got some big dinner plans.

“I think that cicadas are a great example of one way we can use insects all around us as ways to build support for new proteins and new food sources,” Matthew Livingston told nj.com. He’s a junior and excited to be a member of this rather unusual group.

He spoke of how the group of high schoolers have gotten together and eaten crickets and mealworms. They’ve had them every different way; whole, raw, roasted and also in powder form in cookies or brownies.

So what about cicadas? They are planning a cicada hunt at the end of the month. They’ll meet in a local park to catch these emerging cicadas. Then they’ll freeze them for both freshness and to kill off bacteria.

A few days later Livingston will hold a Zoom cooking class with members and will then have everyone meet at his home for a cicada tasting event in June.

Hmm, what pairs well with cicadas; a white or a red?

There’s science behind what this geeky club does. They’re methodically exploring and encouraging alternative protein sources. They are by nature in abundance and produce far less greenhouse gasses.

High school has definitely changed. This insect eating crew would have had the Dungeons and Dragons kids looking like varsity jocks.

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The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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