Spiders and Bugs

Saturday we went to the Central Market in Phnom Penh. This market is where you can go and find anything you might possibly want and it was teeming with locals and foreigners scurrying about trying to find bargains for the best prices. Our cook Heaung took us to the place where they sell bugs and things for human consumption. Pictured above you will see some of the variety of what was for sale today. There were very large Tarantula spiders, grasshoppers, ugh, what I would call, “water bugs” and what Heaung called caterpillars. Heaung and one of the men here ate some of the caterpillars one night after dinner and said they were “cream filled”! Well, I don’t care if they were chocolate filled, this cowboy won’t be eating any bugs soon. They say to “never say never” but that’s as close as I can get!

The worst for me were the big water bugs. I might get down a few spider legs but those big “roach like” ones were disgusting to me. They are all setting on our table right now and it will be interesting to see if anyone makes a move on one tonight. Clyde is the most likely candidate but Rosemary Burtrum has eaten a spider before! We will see if we can coax her into downing one more.

Yesterday’s paper, The Cambodian Daily, featured an article on restaurants that specialize in cooking dog. They say there is a real shortage of dog meat in the capital and that pet owners should keep a “short leash” on there pooches. An order of dog or a bowl of dog soup sells for 25 cents. Sounds too good to pass up, huh!