Cicadas play an important role in the ecosystem, transferring the biomass they eat from trees to the rest of the animal kingdom as birds and small mammals feed off of them. It’s not just animals that feast on cicadas. For the particularly adventurous human, eating cicadas is certainly an option as well. Chef Joseph Yoon, who is the founder of Brooklyn Bugs, a group that explores the potential of edible insects to combat food insecurity, first started cooking cicadas in 2021.

Service charges; resort fees; "surcharge" add-ons: A new state law requiring price transparency is set to take effect in July. Until now, no one knew how it would apply to restaurants.

Panera Bread said it's discontinuing its Charged Sips drinks that were tied to at least two wrongful death lawsuits due to their high caffeine content.

Cargill says that, out "of an abundance of caution," it is recalling several of its ground beef products produced in late April and sold at Walmart locations across the eastern U.S.

Chef Joseph Yoon plans to transform dual emerging cicada broods into edible delicacies.

Karla Tatiana Vasquez's search for a favorite family recipe became a cookbook documenting the food and culture of El Salvador.

An organic seed company was distressed to learn it had marketed a GMO purple tomato by mistake. The incident raised alarm about the impact of new GMO plants.

Federal officials and scientific experts say the virus detected in retail milk samples may be inactive and unable to cause an infection.

The agency stressed the material is inactivated and that the findings "do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers," but it's continuing to study the issue.

Joan Nathan has spent her life exploring in the kitchen, but for the Passover Seder, she sticks with a menu that follows her own family's traditions.

Bread — and the lack thereof — plays a role in many corners of the world facing a crisis, from Israel and Gaza to Ukraine to Afghanistan to Sudan.

Roughly 196 million tons of fish were harvested in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The organization also notes that the number of overfished stocks worldwide has tripled in the last century. All of this overfishing has led to the decline of entire species, like Atlantic cod.

Enter the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch. It and other free guides give consumers an overview of the world of fish and seafood, helping people to figure out the most sustainable fish available to them. With the help of Life Kit's Clare Marie Schneider, we figure out how to make informed decisions about what we eating – whether that's at a restaurant or the local supermarket.

Check out more from Life Kit on sustainable seafood.

Have questions or comments for us to consider for a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

The Food and Drug Administration warns Trader Joe's customers in dozens of states to throw out fresh basil after a federal investigation linked the product to a salmonella outbreak.

Fans of Hot Ones refer to those celebrities who make it through the sauces without complaint as Spice Lords. This week, Conan O'Brien became a Spice Legend.

The group found high levels of sodium and the presence of heavy metals in meal kits it tested. A Kraft Heinz spokesperson said all of its products meet strict safety standards.