Strange Things As Food & Drink

How Eating Fried Tarantulas Saved Lives in Cambodia​


Alive, tarantulas are vicious, hairy and poisonous. But deep-fried, many consider them an excellent snack. In Cambodia, fried tarantulas are a delicacy. Often rolled in sugar or garlic, the spiders are eaten by the handful out of street vendors’ carts by local residents and adventurous tourists alike.

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While this unusual food item may strike westerners as simply gross (Gordon Ramsay included), the custom has tragic, historic roots going back to the murderous reign of Pol Pot and his communist Khmer Rouge movement.

After taking control, the Khmer Rouge forced Phnom Penh’s 2.5 million residents from their homes and into the surrounding hillsides and fields. Their hope was to turn the country, which they called Democratic Kampuchea, into [an] agrarian society cut off from the rest of the modern world. They killed most who disobeyed or sent them off to the notorious S-21 prison. For survivors, life was full of violence, back-breaking work and starvation. People had to find ways to survive and, for many, that meant finding food sources that were readily available in the countryside. Enter the tarantula.

It is not exactly clear who discovered that Thai Zebra tarantulas, or “apin” in Khmer, were edible. While the practice may date back to the late 19th century, it was during the time of the Khmer Rouge that tarantulas became part of the regular menu. Found in dens in heavily forested areas, the spiders were and are safe to eat and easy to prepare—the entire process from catching a spider to serving it can take only ten minutes. Known for high protein, folic acid and zinc contents, the spiders sustained Cambodians who badly needed nourishment.

Today, you can find fried tarantulas on street corners throughout Cambodia, priced at only ten to twenty cents apiece.

https://www.foodandwine.com/news/how-eating-fried-tarantulas-saved-lives

maximus otter
 
Dunno if we've had this before -


Charles Gray plays the gourmet in search of the most unusual tastes.
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The Gourmet has a tip-off about the ultimate treat: a fried ghost.
 
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Vardoger said:
Oh remember this one from the 80s. He got the ultimate meal. I think he also got a cameo in a Pet Shop Boys music video after that.
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Yup, Gray played lots of juicy roles including Mycroft Holmes in both a film and the Jeremy Brett TV series. :cool:
 
escargot said:
Yup, Gray played lots of juicy roles including Mycroft Holmes in both a film and the Jeremy Brett TV series. :cool:
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I mistook Charles Gray for another "classic" actor regarding the Pet Shop Boys music video. It was Joss Ackland who was in the music video.
 
Suddenly not feeling very hungry

https://www.odditycentral.com/foods...sh-topped-with-a-scary-deep-sea-creature.html

A Taipei-based restaurant has been getting a lot of attention for its newest addition to the menu- a ramen dish topped with a steamed 14-legged isopod that looks like something out of an Alien movie.

The Ramen Boy restaurant recently took to Facebook to announce its latest dish, a bowl of ramen featuring a generous helping of giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus), which it describes as a “dream ingredient”. Called “Giant isopod with creamy chicken broth ramen”, the dish consists of a large bowl of ramen and a large isopod steamed in its own shell. To prepare the deep-sea crustacean, the cooks remove the stomach viscera, keeping the creamy glands for consumption, and steam it. The white meat is said to taste like lobster and crab, while the yellow glands are “unexpectedly sweet”.

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kamalktk said:
Suddenly not feeling very hungry

https://www.odditycentral.com/foods...sh-topped-with-a-scary-deep-sea-creature.html

A Taipei-based restaurant has been getting a lot of attention for its newest addition to the menu- a ramen dish topped with a steamed 14-legged isopod that looks like something out of an Alien movie.

The Ramen Boy restaurant recently took to Facebook to announce its latest dish, a bowl of ramen featuring a generous helping of giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus), which it describes as a “dream ingredient”. Called “Giant isopod with creamy chicken broth ramen”, the dish consists of a large bowl of ramen and a large isopod steamed in its own shell. To prepare the deep-sea crustacean, the cooks remove the stomach viscera, keeping the creamy glands for consumption, and steam it. The white meat is said to taste like lobster and crab, while the yellow glands are “unexpectedly sweet”.

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Mmmmm... giant woodlouse...
 
kamalktk said:
Suddenly not feeling very hungry

https://www.odditycentral.com/foods...sh-topped-with-a-scary-deep-sea-creature.html

A Taipei-based restaurant has been getting a lot of attention for its newest addition to the menu- a ramen dish topped with a steamed 14-legged isopod that looks like something out of an Alien movie.

The Ramen Boy restaurant recently took to Facebook to announce its latest dish, a bowl of ramen featuring a generous helping of giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus), which it describes as a “dream ingredient”. Called “Giant isopod with creamy chicken broth ramen”, the dish consists of a large bowl of ramen and a large isopod steamed in its own shell. To prepare the deep-sea crustacean, the cooks remove the stomach viscera, keeping the creamy glands for consumption, and steam it. The white meat is said to taste like lobster and crab, while the yellow glands are “unexpectedly sweet”.

View attachment 66458
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Mmmm... creamy glands...
 
There's a restaurant in Las Vegas that intentionally serves food that's bad for your health. To eat there, you're made to wear a hospital gown and the servers are dressed up as hospital staff ..

 
Swifty said:
There's a restaurant in Las Vegas that intentionally serves food that's bad for your health. To eat there, you're made to wear a hospital gown and the servers are dressed up as hospital staff ..

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I saw that the other day. The staff are creatively rude too.
 
Swifty said:
It's a trend I hope continues Mytho. I'm not anti all customers, It's that I can tell it's just a reaction rocking against the 'I'M ON TRIPADVISOR!!!!!!!!!!!!' twats.
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Bad news here Down Under...

Chain diner known for ‘rude’ staff closes three locations nationwide​

The American-style diner, whose gimmick is staff being intentionally rude to customers, is closing three of its restaurants.
A chain restaurant, where the staff act rude towards their customers, is closing three locations in three different states.
Karen’s Diner is an American-style eatery where the staff, according to their social media pages, “pride ourselves on having the worst service in the world.”

But the gimmick hasn’t paid off at their “pop-up” stores in Perth, Melbourne, and the Gold Coast — they closed their doors this week, leaving only one store in Adelaide, one in Brisbane, and two in Sydney.
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https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/f...e/news-story/0dda93363ea02b36b24930af836b1716
 
Swifty said:
Australia's got a worldwide reputation for actual 'Karens' .. that's probably the reason. The chain's joke hit to close to home for them.?
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From what I saw on t.v, the customers couldn't take the heat, taking the abuse flung their way a little too personally, but then, isn't that the point? Don't go to such places if you have thin skin and your pride gets hurt easily.
 
Lord Lucan said:
From what I saw on t.v, the customers couldn't take the heat, taking the abuse flung their way a little too personally, but then, isn't that the point? Don't go to such places if you have thin skin and your pride gets hurt easily.
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100%. The Karen's concept is a statement about restaurant staff getting abused turned into performance art. They're actors being rude on purpose, a statement about rude customers. I've posted this clip before but anyway .. when you get a Karen as a customer ..

 
Lord Lucan said:
From what I saw on t.v, the customers couldn't take the heat, taking the abuse flung their way a little too personally, but then, isn't that the point? Don't go to such places if you have thin skin and your pride gets hurt easily.
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That seems to be exactly what punters are doing..

A single restaurant with rude/brusque staff could possibly get away with it & become a novelty attraction but a whole chain of them smacks of corporate nonsense.

When you go out for dinner do you really want abuse & ’the worst service in the world'? I reckon that could get tiresome quite quickly.
 
hunck said:
That seems to be exactly what punters are doing..

A single restaurant with rude/brusque staff could possibly get away with it & become a novelty attraction but a whole chain of them smacks of corporate nonsense.

When you go out for dinner do you really want abuse & ’the worst service in the world'? I reckon that could get tiresome quite quickly.
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I get why they exist but no I wouldn't go to one. Ironically, the 'Karen's' restaurant chef takes the food preparation seriously so the food's very good I've been told with a 5 out of 5 EHO score. I hope the 'Karen's' chain and other similar ones know not to have a licence to also serve alcohol because that would be an absolute recipe for disaster if and when a drunk customer forgets the waiting staff are actors so then gets abusive towards the deliberately abusive staff.
 
hunck said:
A single restaurant with rude/brusque staff could possibly get away with it & become a novelty attraction but a whole chain of them smacks of corporate nonsense.
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In London we have Wong Kei, a large Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

The London Evening Standard used to give it the award for the rudest waiters.

There was also Gabi's, a delicatessen in Charing Cross Road, opposite Leicester Square station.
It got mentions too.

I went in there a couple of times in the 1990's, was run by a middle aged Israeli.
He wasn't rude at all.
Just very strait forward in the way that tough generation of Kibbutzniks could be. ( @Floyd1 will know what I mean.)

You ordered.
He made humus/falafel/salad in pitta bread.
You paid.
You ate.

A world away from "Pan fried corn fed extra tender wildebeest alongside grilled gold infused Ecuadorian potatoes, parsnips grown in the garden of the house where the Duke of Northumberland sang a madrigal in years yonder, all set in a reduction of dangleberries and topped with shavings of dry skin from a wildcat's paw."
 
In the few Chinese restaurants I have been, the employees should eat some of their “ happy sauce “, because the employees were nothing like happy.

I tolerate one Chinese restaurant because the food is excellent which I guess is the main thing.
 
Victory said:
In London we have Wong Kei, a large Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

The London Evening Standard used to give it the award for the rudest waiters.
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Been in there! Went there years ago, when I worked in London.
They weren't that rude then. It seemed to be a place where local Chinese people went to eat, so the menu was fairly plain - but the food was good.
 
Victory said:
A world away from "Pan fried corn fed extra tender wildebeest alongside grilled gold infused Ecuadorian potatoes, parsnips grown in the garden of the house where the Duke of Northumberland sang a madrigal in years yonder, all set in a reduction of dangleberries and topped with shavings of dry skin from a wildcat's paw."
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Whoa. Where can I get that? It sounds magical. :)
 
Victory said:
In London we have Wong Kei, a large Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.

The London Evening Standard used to give it the award for the rudest waiters.

There was also Gabi's, a delicatessen in Charing Cross Road, opposite Leicester Square station.
It got mentions too.

I went in there a couple of times in the 1990's, was run by a middle aged Israeli.
He wasn't rude at all.
Just very strait forward in the way that tough generation of Kibbutzniks could be. ( @Floyd1 will know what I mean.)

You ordered.
He made humus/falafel/salad in pitta bread.
You paid.
You ate.

A world away from "Pan fried corn fed extra tender wildebeest alongside grilled gold infused Ecuadorian potatoes, parsnips grown in the garden of the house where the Duke of Northumberland sang a madrigal in years yonder, all set in a reduction of dangleberries and topped with shavings of dry skin from a wildcat's paw."
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The Wong Kai was apparently legendary for it's service.

A comedian, can’t remember exactly who [Phil Jupitus?], had a story of eating there. They were halfway through their meal when the staff insisted they had to move upstairs from their table on the ground floor - I think it was on 2 floors - possibly because someone more photogenic came in & they preferred them to be downstairs to be seen - dunno.

The waiters moved everything, half-eaten dinners, drinks etc upstairs & their meals resumed there.
 
When I lived in Hong Kong I learnt a smattering of Cantonese.

One job I had was in an American goods shop in an shopping mall at the top of The Peak (kind of like a mini-supermarket) and I learnt the phrase "would you like a plastic bag?" 'yu, mm yu, gow doi?' which literally translates as 'want, don't want, plastic bag?'

The language itself is kind of blunt (well, the commonly used language as opposed to high literature) So a Chinese waiter saying in English "You, sit here. What you eat?" would be their way of saying "Here's your table, what can I get you?"

Any real speakers of the language please feel free to put me right.
 
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