Trash Pandas fans go off menu to eat cicadas?!?
No matter how much or how little time you’ve spent around the game of baseball, you surely know the refrain: “Take me out to the ballgame … buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.” Eating a cicada is never mentioned. But on Tuesday night at Toyota Field, they seemed to
No matter how much or how little time you’ve spent around the game of baseball, you surely know the refrain: “Take me out to the ballgame … buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack.”
Eating a cicada is never mentioned. But on Tuesday night at Toyota Field, they seemed to be quite the delicacy as a few of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas fans munched on à la carte-winged critters.
Prior to the game, Rocket City tweeted out a bevy of elite ballpark options available for hungry customers on the concourse -- the moonshot burger, loaded bases shrimp and grits, churro poutine and loaded baked potato pizza among them. Yet, some fans chose a cheaper protein option, much to the dismay of the club’s broadcaster, Josh Caray, and social media director Lucas Dolengowski.
“The fact that he was eating it was gross enough, but then he decided to dip it in beer,” Caray said. “That’s a new one on me. I’ve never seen it before and I hope I never see it again.”
Caray’s initial reaction upon seeing the first fan take a small bite was a visceral, “Oh, no!” In a gross game of one-upsmanship, another fan snagged a cicada and held it up before ultimately chowing down, which drew “a giant gasp from the crowd when they showed it on the videoboard,” according to Dolengowski.
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Two weeks ago, cicadas began to descend on Madison, Ala., the same way they will cross much of the United States over the upcoming summer. The club has done its best to keep the park cicada-free, but the outdoor game is still subject to the elements.
In their defense (admittedly a short-leashed one), Trash Pandas (essentially a raccoon) do eat cicadas. You’ve heard of fans embodying their favorite team on and off the field before, but surely not taking on their mascots' dietary habits.
“Our folks are a little unique and they take passion in being Trash Panda fans -- I don’t know if I want them to be that passionate,” Caray said.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING
— Rocket City Trash Pandas (@trashpandas) May 23, 2024
WHY ARE WE DOING THIS
TWO (2) PEOPLE EATING CICADAS PLEASE STOP https://t.co/Uka0Bt1NaN pic.twitter.com/DzH80qP9aE
(It’s worth mentioning: consuming cicadas is not considered hazardous to the human body -- when purchased properly. Eating them straight from the wild -- or your local ballpark -- puts one at greater risk of illness. But sautéing them for an at-home dish? Not as off-the-beaten path as you’d expect.)
If fans getting funky at the yard when it comes to their insect-consumption pallet sounds familiar, you might be thinking of Seattle's famed ballpark food -- grasshoppers. A longtime best-seller at T-Mobile Park, eating your greens has never been so easy, especially considering these ones come fried.
Much like how hot dogs and baseball go great together, such will be the case for the summer of 2024 and cicadas. Two different broods of the insect are emerging at the same time, which will cause a significant uptick in the population that we come across -- even if there are at least two fewer among them than when the day began.
Jesse Borek is a reporter/coordinator of prospect content at MLB Pipeline and MiLB. Follow him on Twitter @JesseABorek.