Bug bon appétit.
Scientists, nutritionists and food adventurers have long advocated for humans to consider insects as a sustainable food source, prompting NBC News' Hallie Jackson to dine on a rare treat: The 17-year cicada.
Jackson noshed on cicada scampi at Thip Khao Restaurant in Washington, D.C., in footage aired Wednesday on "Hallie Jackson Reports."
"Actually it's pretty good," Jackson told viewers. "I sent a box of chocolate-covered cicadas to some family members."
Thip Khao chef Seng Luangrat said she is happy to share her cicada creation with customers.
"For me it's more exciting than like you know creepy or scary," she told MSNBC. "It's like oh my god, it's going to be my next meal."
Billions of cicadas have emerged from underground for the first time in 17 years to take part in a noisy, monthlong mating ritual. The periodical insects, also known as Brood X, spend most of their lives underground feeding on tree roots, before tunneling to the surface to look for mates.
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With warm weather swarming much of America, sightings of the large insects have been reported across a dozen states, stretching from Illinois to the west, Georgia to the south and New York to the northeast.
The young cicadas, called "nymphs," climb up to shed their skins one last time and transform into adults. They will have only a few weeks to sing, mate and begin the cycle again.