Within weeks of arriving in Cambodia, I ate a tarantula. A friend challenged me to it before I left and I promised I would give them a try. I figured I should get the gross-ness out of the way, so the first time I saw them, I ate one--a lovely fried tarantula. It tasted...fried. I ate some mango right away to clear my palate. Overall, it wasn't so terrible. And I do feel pretty cool just saying that I ate a spider. Want to see? Pictures are here.
While I jumped at the chance to eat a fried spider. (Okay, I didn't exactly jump.) I was much more opposed to eating another favorite treat in Cambodia: fried cricket. Just something about all of the little parts: legs, wings, head, skeleton--you can see them all (as pictured below)! So, I avoided crickets...for awhile. Two weeks ago, I was traveling with our retreat team from Dallas to visit the CREDIT program. As we waited to board the ferry to travel out for a field visit, our bus was surrounded by vendors selling everything from packs of gum to fresh fruit. The thing that really caught the attention of one member of the team were the buckets of fried crickets!
Victor, for all of his maturity and blessing to the team, is very much a 12 year old kid--and he really wanted to eat some crickets! The staff member with us helped Victor buy a bag of the tasty treats and he was kind of enough to share with everyone! I gave in--once I saw that you can take off the legs before you eat it! (Apparently that was enough to change my mind. Crazy.)
So, here is one of the cute little fried crickets:
Yes, I look a little too happy about this!
While I jumped at the chance to eat a fried spider. (Okay, I didn't exactly jump.) I was much more opposed to eating another favorite treat in Cambodia: fried cricket. Just something about all of the little parts: legs, wings, head, skeleton--you can see them all (as pictured below)! So, I avoided crickets...for awhile. Two weeks ago, I was traveling with our retreat team from Dallas to visit the CREDIT program. As we waited to board the ferry to travel out for a field visit, our bus was surrounded by vendors selling everything from packs of gum to fresh fruit. The thing that really caught the attention of one member of the team were the buckets of fried crickets!
Victor, for all of his maturity and blessing to the team, is very much a 12 year old kid--and he really wanted to eat some crickets! The staff member with us helped Victor buy a bag of the tasty treats and he was kind of enough to share with everyone! I gave in--once I saw that you can take off the legs before you eat it! (Apparently that was enough to change my mind. Crazy.)
So, here is one of the cute little fried crickets:
Yes, I look a little too happy about this!
And...I ate one! And I didn't die. :)
*Note: This photo was staged. There are some actual photos of me eating a cricket (on Matt's camera). The cricket in these photos had fallen on the floor and was put in a trash can after starring in my photos. Several crickets were harmed (and eaten) on this particular day in Cambodia.
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