For some unexplained reason, Chris and I love trying new and sometimes outrageous foods while traveling. In the past, we’ve enjoyed, devoured and sometimes just barely swallowed foods like duck tongue, blood clots, bone marrow and moving lobster heads. Since we’ve been to SE Asia, we’ve already opened up to our crazy taste buds in the Cambodian markets.

The Bug + Spider Lady

Today, we decided to explore the Khmer cuisine, looking specifically for one thing: fried tarantulas. Not knowing where these creepy crawlers were hiding, we got lost in the labyrinth of the Central Market of Phenom Penh where they have women butchering carcasses of animals next to manicure chairs, oiled car parts next to undergarments, and fruits and vegetables next to turtles, frogs, and fish (both dead and alive). The rain found it’s way between the tarp roofs very quickly and before we knew it, we were wading around in a mix of muddy water, fish guts, meat shards, and vegetable peelings. Needless to say it was not pleasant but we knew it’d be worth the effort. After asking several local workers where the “a-ping” was (the word for spider in Khmer), we were finally pointed in the direction where we finally located the bugs… right next to the jewelry of course!

Our Bag of Bugs

There were two women sitting on small plastic foot stools with 4 sacks in front of them: tarantulas, crickets, mealworms and king-size cockroaches. I was excited for the adventure but when I finally got up close and personal with these massive bugs, I was no longer enthused about the thought eating them. They looked too alive to be dead much less edible but we couldn’t turn away now. We ordered a bag of assorted buggy goodness and thanked the women for helping us fulfill our strange desire. By now, I was not hungry nor impressed with the bag I was holding. I looked to Chris, who had a massive smile across his face, and while I tried to give off a quick grin, deep down I was sick because I knew what came next… eating them. For those of you who don’t know, I’m deathly afraid of spiders so holding this huge tarantula amongst other huge bugs was already creepy for me.

We weren’t ready to eat our new delicacies yet, so we carried them around for the rest of the day. Finally, after a few beers at a bar, it was time to open the bag. Chris started with the *main course* (the spider), first trying one of the legs, and finally taking the plunge to eat its massive body. In his words: “It’s good. It doesn’t taste like much more than something fairly tasteless that’s fried. I’d definitely eat another!” I couldn’t bring myself to eat a spider, but I did try a mealworm, cricket and part of the giant cockroach. They definitely weren’t the worst things I’ve ever tried, but I won’t be eating them again any time soon.

To top off the night, our waitress noticed we had many leftover bugs that we weren’t going to finish and called the other waitresses over. They all started to chow down like they hadn’t eaten all day. I guess it’s a good thing someone loves those little guys (or should I say big guys). I’d much rather them be eaten than be running around my $10 hotel room!