Tarantula in Cambodia

Me firing an RPG a few hours before my tarantula.

I went to Cambodia for two reasons. The first, to fire an RPG, which I had easily achieved mere moments after stepping off the plane. The second reason found me walking halfway across Phnom Penh with my iPhone doing its very best at trying to direct me.

Eventually after a significant walking distance and more than a few wrong turns I had found the restaurant in question. I was the only person there, so I sat in the garden and ordered the much anticipated meal.

The first thing that strikes you is that they look exactly the same. There is no mistaking this meal for anything other than tarantula. They sit there frozen, like an arachnid version of Pompeii.

I picked one up and notices that the texture was smooth, not hairy or slimy, but smooth like a ....I can't think of any accurate analogy. Smooth like a prawn, maybe.

They are crunchy to eat. The sauce that comes with it is a peanut satay sauce, and it's fantastic. The abdomen pops in your mouth when you bite it, which sounds disgusting, but tastes fantastic.

After my intrepidation upon eating the first one, I am now popping them into my mouth like I have been eating them all of my life. They are interesting to eat like jelly babies. With a jelly baby you amuse yourself by eating the legs first, or the head and then eventually eating the whole thing.

The same goes with the tarantula. You bite off each leg, and then maybe the head and then go from there. They taste like a light chicken, although the taste isn't really analogous to anything I have eaten before or since.

I would eat this again, in fact just writing about it makes me hungy. The beer is also highly recommended.