Oh Yum, The Real Deal Continues

Just when we thought we were safe, our thoughtful guide has given us two more chances to taste "the real deal " here in Cambodia. Yesterday at the Russian Market at Phnom Penh we went to the food court ( read tons of street food under one roof). Here they prepared us a plate of hard boiled duck eggs with little duck embryos inside. This they garnished with salt and pepper, lime juice, and basil leaves. I ate one bite, not too bad. Didn't like the idea much.






Now today we are driving to Siem Reap, pretty much an all day drive through dozens of small villages, rice paddies, and fascinating rural scenery. Before lunch we turned off the road and drove down a long dirt lane for our next "surprise". Today the specialty of the village was tarantulas, big black hairy ones. We actually watched a lady with sparkly purple nails take a stick and dig a big mama out of a hole in the ground. She handily defanged it using a small stick, then popped it into a bowl full of creepy-crawly, very lively spiders.

We walked back to her courtyard where she used her purple thumbnail to quickly dispatch each critter by pressing hard into the thorax. Then she washed the dust off them , fired up her gas burner, and deep-fried the lot of them while we watched. Then it was our turn to eat them - oh joy! But we did. My theory is that this is my only chance to have these experiences, so with great deep breathing I went for it. The report is they are pretty delicious. The legs taste a bit like crab meat. Crunchy, salty. Once again proving my theory that anything tastes great deep fried !











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