Twice as expensive as beef, baby cicadas are 'priced' at millions in early summer

Every year, in the summer, on the online market, many small traders are bustling with sales.cicadaYoung with price ranging from 400,000 - 500,000 VND/kg.

Ms. Nguyen Huyen, a cicada seller in Hanoi, shared that to have enough supply, she has to collect goods from many provinces and cities such as Son La, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, and Phu Tho. After being caught, the cicadas are cleaned by traders and transported to Hanoi by bus.

"Cicada pupae only have one season a year, from May to July. There are many types of pupae, but the most delicious are those that have just molted, with plump bodies. Therefore, when catching cicadas, people only choose those in the pupal stage, young and without wings yet," she said.

According to Ms. Huyen, young cicadas are a rustic, familiar dish in many villages, but in recent years, they have become a specialty in urban areas. The main consumers are restaurants, pubs, and specialty shops.specialtyjungle

Explaining the reason for the high price of cicadas, Ms. Huyen said: "Cicadas often molt at night, so workers have to go out to catch them the night before. Sometimes, it takes 3-4 people a whole day to catch 1-2 kg of cicadas. Because the process of hunting cicadas is very complicated, time-consuming and requires a lot of effort."

Mr. Vu Hoang in Chiem Hoa (Tuyen Quang) said that at this time, in his hometown, a lot of cicadas appear in the forests, so he often goes hunting for cicadas to sell to traders.

According to the revelation, the price paid for cicadas is quite high, from 200,000 to 250,000/kg, so when the amount of cicadas in this place is gone, he and his friends go to other places to hunt.

"The ideal time to hunt for cicadas is from 10pm the day before to 3am the next day. On days when there are many cicadas, we can catch 2-3kg, selling for more than half a million VND, but there are also times when there are fewer cicadas and we can only earn about 200,000-300,000 VND per day. Cicadas are a product that never goes unsold, because no matter how many we catch,trader"They have come to buy everything. They buy to transport to neighboring provinces, of which Hanoi is the largest consumer" - Mr. Hoang said.

As the owner of a famous pub in Thanh Oai (Hanoi), Mr. Nguyen Trung said that he had to order cicadas from 2 traders to have enough quantity to make goods. Because in the past, people often caught cicadas to eat, but now the demandmarketThe price of cicadas is getting higher and higher, so many people go to catch cicadas to sell. Therefore, the price of cicadas is being pushed up because supply cannot meet demand.

"There are many delicious dishes made from cicadas such as stir-fried with lemon leaves, coated in flour or fried. Many people like to eat this dish because it has a very characteristic fatty, sweet and aromatic flavor," he said.

However, Mr. Trung also warned that people who are allergic to insects and pupae should not eat cicadas because they can easily cause poisoning. Because cicadas live in soil, they are at high risk of infection and parasitic fungi, including some types of fungi that are dangerous to users./.