Deep Fried Spider Snacks Have Put Cambodia in the News Again

Deep fried spider snacks have put Cambodia in the news again. First eaten by starving people out of desperation during the Cambodian civil war of the 1970s, fried spiders have become one of the most popular snack foods, a national delicacy and have caused quite a stir in the culinary world.

The small crossroad town of Skuon, about 50 miles north of the capitol Phnom Phenh, is the famous spider town of Cambodia to where bus loads of people from the capitol flock for the famed snack. "We even get a few Europeans - usually they think it's disgusting but then they try one and find it's delicious," says Cham, one of a myriad of local spider vendors busy along the main highway.

Sim Yong, a 40-year-old mother of five who supports her family selling fried spiders says, "When people fled into the jungle to get away from Pol Pot's troops, they found these spiders and had to eat them because they were so hungry. Then they discovered they were so delicious..." Seasoned with garlic and salt they are fried in butter until crispy on the outside but gooey on the inside and served piping hot.

As to the experience of actually eating one, here is a first hand account by the daunting Rhymer Rigby, "The legs are pleasantly crunchy and have little flesh in them. Then you get to the head and body which have a delicate white meat inside, rather like a cross between chicken and cod. These bits are quite moreish and the only downside is that, after munching a few, you can develop little spider fur balls in your throat... But then there's the spider's large, globular abdomen. This is the only really disturbing part of the animal: it's full of a dark brown paste that includes everything from eggs to the heart and spider excrement." Yikes.

The spiders are known locally as "a-ping", a species of burrowing tarantulas the size of a hand with venomous fangs. Once a feared common pest, they have become the corn dogs of Cambodia and hunted by eager entrepreneurial villagers. Tum Neang, a 28-year-old spider vendor says, "On a good day, I can sell between 100 and 200 spiders." At about 8 cents a piece the spiders represent a major source of income for people in this impoverished region. The Skuon spiders are reputed to be the best in Cambodia for eating. They have high food value and the nutritious snacks are a welcome addition to a generally protein sparse diet of the region.

We can only be astonished at the fortitude and toughness of those people who first ate them, without butter to fry with or garlic and salt for seasoning, during those dark times. What good fortune that the spiders would turn out to be delicious.