A Crunchy Snack

Today we took the bus back from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. At our second stop at a small town along the way, we were surrounded as usual by many women with food on trays to sell to passengers unloading from the bus. There was the usual–mangos, fresh pineapple, hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, and cold drinks.

There was something unique here in Skuon, however. A couple of women carried trays of dark-colored, strange-looking food. I knew I wasn’t interested in something that looked so foreign so I didn’t really look at what was on the tray.

Then Orion observed, "Look, Mom. These are spiders!" And, in fact, the strange-looking food was deep-fried spiders that glistened with some kind of sauce on them. Ugh!!! The spiders were about
2.5 inches across including their long hairy legs.

Always the adventurer, Orion decided to eat one of the crunchy spiders, as I stood by grimacing and horrified. They looked so spider-like!! Yuck!

Then, after a few bites, Orion said, "Not bad, Mom. Are you sure you don’t want to try it?"

As creepy as it was, I mustered the courage (I think it was courage) to break off a tiny piece of a leg and to chew it a few moments. It was pretty crunchy without much flavor except for the sauce. I can’t say I enjoyed the experience although I am glad I briefly tasted it.

So the next time you want to try a unique culinary treat, come to Skuon in Cambodia. Orion says, "The spiders are not bad." 

He should know. He ate two of them.