People are now eating cicadas found in their backyard

Would you eat cicadas found in your backyard?

Chef Elise Harris, a.k.a. The Diva Chef, joins Good Day DC to show how you can in fact cook cicadas and the health benefits the bugs can actually provide.

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Whether you're embracing the cicadas this season or counting down the days until they're gone, a new debate has sparked about the burrowing creatures - would you eat them?

That's right. Some adventurous eaters in the DMV have been cooking up the cicadas they see hanging off trees or crawling around gardens in their backyards.

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Chef Elise Harris, a.k.a. The Diva Chef, joined FOX 5 on Tuesday to talk about the best ways to prepare the critters and explained some of the health benefits that go along with eating both cicadas and crickets.

"They are literally a superfood," Harris says. "They are full of antioxidants…Not only that, but they're a complete source of protein meaning that they contain all nine essential amino acids…Just to put that in perspective for you, a serving of beef contains 31g of protein whereas a serving of crickets contains a whopping 43g of protein."

So, what does FOX 5's Marissa Mitchell think of her restaurant-quality cicadas?

"Crunchy at first," she says, "then gooey. Very gooey! I'm getting shrimp. I'm getting maybe a little chicken. It's actually good! The seasoning is what makes it."

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Prepare your own home-cooked cicadas using the recipe below and let us know what you think!

1. Parboil for 1 minute

2. Heat olive oil and add garlic

3. Sautee cicadas

4. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes