Buzz
Priced at 1 USD per Tarantula spider, this unique dish attracts numerous foreign tourists to indulge in when visiting Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Exotic Tarantula Delicacy: A Must-Try for Western Travelers Exploring Cambodia
Crispy fried insects are famous delicacies in Cambodia, but the first to mention is the Tarantula spider dish, priced at 1 USD each. In this country, travelers can explore the preparation and taste of this dish by taking a cooking class in Siem Reap.
Before being tossed into the skillet, the spiders are soaked in a milky mixture of sugar, salt, chicken powder, and water.
According to cooking instructor Ouch Ratana, once the spiders have absorbed the seasoning from that mixture, they are scooped out and put into hot oil for only about 45 seconds.
Cambodian guide Yin Lucky tasted a crispy fried Tarantula spider. He advised, 'Start with the body as it's the tastiest part, the legs aren't as delicious.'
Yin explained how poverty and famine in the 1970s led the people of Cambodia to eat whatever they could find. Some of the creatures they caught were surprisingly delicious, like Tarantula spiders, scorpions, grasshoppers, and crickets. And even today, these 'wild' dishes remain on the menu for the people of Cambodia.
Besides learning to cook and enjoy crispy fried poisonous spiders, tourists attending Ouch's cooking class can also learn to cook scorpions and grasshoppers.
Ouch explains: 'They're very tasty, they're a type of light snack that goes well with beer or rice wine'. In the picture, he's preparing various spices for marination. Almost all the Tarantula spiders Ouch sells are caught from Kampong Cham, a province located 200 km southeast of Siem Reap. The locals there often spend the whole day hunting for spider nests.
A simple kitchen where tourists can join in preparing the poisonous Tarantula spider dish. Ouch says: 'There are days when I sell dozens of crispy fried spiders. Because they're quite expensive, people only eat them on special occasions like birthdays, when each person may eat one or two.'
According to Huong Chi/Vnexpress
Posted by: By Thị Như Lâm
Keywords: Poisonous spider delicacy attracts Westerners in Cambodia
