A tarantula! This was served as an appetizer at Romdeng, a restaurant run by the Mith Samlanh organization that helps train Cambodian street children in service careers. On Friday, me and a couple of friends decided to check out the 15th Anniversary party being thrown by the organization and chose to order up some Cambodian grub. Among the dishes we ordered and chose to share at the really charming, surprisingly fancy restaurant were three of these creepy crawlies – one for each of us.
Much like the cricket I ate several weeks ago, this arthropod was similar to a soft-shell crab in both flavor and texture, which makes sense because they are in the same phylum. Unlike the cricket I ate several weeks ago, this sucker was huge and most definitely had a little buggy face.
The favored method of eating the arachnid was to gingerly nibble at its hairy, crispy appendages, either dipped in a mixture of lime juice and Kampot pepper or without any adornment, which is what I ultimately preferred. Of course, the sole male in the group, my co-worker, decided to man up and ate the whole torso of the little beast after making short work of its legs. Again, not to be outdone and to say that I too had eaten a tarantula, I followed suit.
It wasn’t too bad, and, actually, quite edible save for some prickly bits, which I assumed were portions of its fangs that had not been clipped. However, as I relayed to the folks at the table, I feared that what happened after my feast of crickets (well, one cricket actually) would happen after I noshed on the tarantula.
Several days after my cricket escapade, I was eating breakfast and felt a little tickle on my foot. When I looked down, I saw a large cricket chilling on my sandal, and the first thing that popped into my mind was an apology for eating his mum, dad, niece, nephew, etc.
Yup. Definitely not looking forward to seeing one of these guys on my foot as it was an adventure enough seeing one on my plate.
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4 Responses to Gnarliest thing I’ve eaten so far?
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Wow. I have to say, you are an adventurous eater.
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww! but you’re an awesome writer, I loved this passage
[...] expressed appreciation for Apple computers and their operating systems. 2L Julie Anne shared the ‘gnarliest’ eating experience she has had thus far in Cambodia. 2L LifeofaLawStudent began to prepare herself to fare better, grade-wise, in her second [...]
OH. MY. GAWD. I’m just now seeing this and wishing I hadn’t. You are one brave soul!