Spiderville Icon · Deep-Fried Tarantula

A-Ping (Fried Tarantula)

Photo: Ppacter / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The market town where it's sold is nicknamed 'Spiderville,' and it's said to be the world's largest spider market, with vendors selling both fried and live tarantulas by the basket.

Palm-sized tarantulas are tossed with garlic, sugar, and salt, then deep-fried whole until the legs turn stiff and the body crisps, leaving soft white meat in the head and thorax. Vendors in the town of Skuon pile them into baskets at market stalls and roadside tables, selling them a few dollars for a handful.

Why it's made this way: Popular telling often links the dish to the famine years of Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s, when locals are said to have foraged tarantulas for protein out of necessity — though the practice's exact origins aren't fully settled, since Skuon's spider stalls only became widely famous as a roadside attraction starting in the 1990s, on the route between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.