Biting Bugs

By Robert Turnbull

IT'S BECOME SOMETHING of a joke among foreigners in Phnom Penh restaurants that the pork chop on their plate might be a piece of Pol Pot reincarnated. That's because many Cambodians are convinced that the deceased dictator returned to this life as a pig.

But the smile is quickly wiped off their faces when large trays of roasted tarantulas hover menacingly over their tables.

For poor Cambodians, insects are staple fare. The capital's rambunctious markets would not be complete without squatting women selling mountains of wasps and silk worms, crickets and konteh long, the giant water beetles from Neak Luong near the Vietnamese border.

Tarantulas, or a-ping, are the kings of the crop. About seven centimetres long and priced at around 400 riel (10 cents) each, these creatures are brown and chewy and, it's said, especially succulent when fried with garlic and pepper. For some they're an acquired taste with strong medicinal powers. "The spiders are most popular with pregnant women and men who work very hard," says Kim Hourn, owner of one of the many unnamed eateries around Phnom Penh's Kandal market.

In the small town of Skuon an hour north of the capital, a-ping is a frequent dish, if not always a fixture, at many roadside cafés, often brought in by children carrying trayloads of spiders on their heads.

To see the spiders in their natural habitat, and get a free demonstration of the tricky art of catching them, requires a trek to Ro Vey, a hilly village 10 kilometres outside the central market town of Kompong Thom. Do they often bite? "They don't like to bite, but when they do, they make you very sick," says local spider- catcher Kuong with a grin. "You then start feeling cold. It's not good to be bitten."

In Phnom Penh the Psa Tmei (New Market) is one of the best places to see insects being sold, while there are several eateries around the Psa Kandal (Kandal market) that serve spiders from Skuon