Being the WebMD, over-analyzing, hypochondriac that I am, decided to hyper research eating tarantulas at Romdeng (the restaurant we were going to) HUGE MISTAKE! Just to summarize what I learned: they deep fry them without battering them; the legs are crunchy and crispy; the body is squishy and most likely contains excrement and eggs; and they will bring out a live one for you to hold. The only thing I was excited about was being done.
Tuesday night, eight of us piled into 2 tuk tuks (sort of like chariots attached to a moto) to meet our coworker that coordinated it at a bar called Liquid in BKK1 (the expat community). The group consisted of 3 Canadians, 2 Brits, 2 Cambodians, Anna and I. We all had a beer and talked for an hour or so, distracting ourselves from that fact that we were about to eat an arachnid for dinner.
When we migrated to Romdeng we were all on edge. Vy, our coworker who coordinated this forced cultural event, made sure to order enough tarantulas so that we each could have our own in addition to deciding what we would eat for the main courses. Clearly my spidey senses were working because I could sense when they were bringing out the live one made eye contact with the guilty-ist looking waiter (who totally had the tarantula) and bolted to the other side of the table to hide. A couple people held the live one, I avoided it at all costs and was very pleased when they took it away. After tons of protesting, and a selfie, I agreed to eat a leg. I chewed it as little as possible and then swallowed. So I am not entirely sure what it tasted like but I surely won't do it again.
One of the dishes that Vy ordered for us was beef curry with fire ants. Fire ants aren't like normal little black ants, they are giant bee sized ants with wings. Being that I was hungry an if you didn't look at the plate you could pretend they arent there, I ate them without much protest. And you know what, it was really good, but I still wouldn't ever order it again.
The arachnids
Just a spider running around on the table nbd
"Elaine eat it!" "But look at this cute selfie I took!" "I don't care eat it!"
Jin eating the fire ants
xoxo