What do tarantulas taste like

But over-hunting coupled with widespread deforestation is putting pressure on the tarantula population. Soon, there may not be any spiders left — so I'm about to try one. I buy two of them — one male and one female. They come in a plastic bag, still a little hairy and glistening with the oil they were fried in. Even the locals find it hard to explain the taste of a tarantula. Some say it's like crab, but most have told me the only way to know is to try it.

The logical thing to nibble at first is the legs. They are crispy with the skin slightly separated from the meat, like tempura. It's trickier to get into the body — like I'm pushing my spoon into a stress ball, which doesn't split but just bulges instead. The abdomen is slightly bitter because all the organs remain inside but the eggs themselves are surprisingly tasty. For me, the whole experience was the kind of thing you would only ever do once, ideally after a lot of Angkor beer, but for many locals, these creepy snacks are the pinnacle of delicious.

During the s, the tarantula became an essential source of food as Cambodia fell under the Khmer Rouge regime. Kong opened his business in when a few vendors started selling tarantulas on the side of the road. As commerce picked up and people started to travel more, the demand for deep-fried A-Ping grew, and because Skuon was located on one of Cambodia's most significant intersections, the town became the epicentre of the trade.

According to Kong, the industry's growth was accelerated by demand from Cambodia's wealthy for rare foods. Tarantulas are believed to be good for throat, lung and heart ailments, respiratory problems and back pain. They are also used to stimulate sexual desire and to "make women more beautiful". According to Kong, people believe the spiders are "clean because they eat herbs and plants". In reality, they eat insects. But occasionally one slips through with fangs intact and if you're bitten, the pain can last for hours.

Most of the people who buy tarantulas are locals, and because the taste is so distinct, demand is high. One vendor, Mach, buys a new batch of spiders every three days, waking up at 5am to fry them before selling them at the intersection. Two other large markets are the Chinese and Vietnamese who buy spiders for medicinal purposes. One seller, named Socheatta, has jars of rice wine containing whole scorpions and tarantulas.

Because tourists are usually more interested in taking photos than in eating the spiders, some sellers have begun to diversify. One vendor's most recent customer asked to film her cooking. Others have taken film teams and journalists out to find spiders, again for a fee.

Between and , Cambodia lost 2. Cheung Prey, Skuon's district, suffered a 47 per cent decrease in coverage. Much of this has been driven by the allocation of land, even protected forests, to large-scale agricultural plantations. They believe that during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia , people were starving so they began to eat tarantulas and other creatures they were able to gather from the forest. Other people believe that it has been long-standing practice and that people just continue to eat them because they are so delicious.

Spiders that live in homes there are about three or four species of spiders that live in houses in North America will tend to stay in nonhuman infested areas of the house.

Spiders will hunt and spin their webs in an area away from people. Spiders will not intentionally crawl into a bed with a human because there is nothing for them to hunt there. Additionally, spiders may be afraid of sleeping people.

This is because spiders rely heavily on vibrations to warn them of danger. And a sleeping person will give off vibrations from breathing, their heartbeat, and even snoring, which would act as a signal for the spider to stay away. If someone swallows a spider in their sleep, it would be a completely random occurrence. There are various bugs that are commonly eaten all over the world because they have great nutritional value.

Crickets are probably some of the most popular bugs that people consume. This is because crickets are a great source of iron, protein, and some vitamins like B Crickets can be ground up into a powder and then they can be added into a protein shake or even flour for extra nutrients. Like crickets, grasshoppers are also very popular.

They are so popular in Uganda that it is more expensive to buy grasshoppers than beef! Beetles are also very popular because they are rich in protein as well as various nutrients and minerals. Beetles can be roasted or used in recipes and sometimes cochineal beetles are used to make food coloring extract.

We had a fantastic evening in beautiful surroundings and would absolutely recommend a trip to Romdeng if you are in Phnom Penh. Charlie has been desperate to try a tarantula since seeing Andrew Zimmerman eat one. He gathered a bit of a crowd and had a great time with his Man vs Food moment! Apologies for the bad lighting..

They offer Spider Skewers and Tarantula Donuts — basically deep fried spiders in batter — alongside heaps of other insect-based meals and snacks. Mine were just a little bit more obvious. You are braver than me!