By Erin McNeill, Semester at Sea, Spring 2017
There is apparently a procedure to eating a tarantula. First comes the inherent panic associated with putting one of the worlds largest arachnids anywhere near your mouth. This phase usually takes the longest and involves a lot of noise making and whimpering. The second phase comes in the form of the reluctant first bite. I say this because I doubt any foreigner has really every sunk his or her teeth into a tarantula without any self doubt. Finally comes the realization that “Hey, this isn't so bad!” This is the best stage because you realize you can say you've eaten something most people only see in their nightmares and realized its not that bad. Its all about the bragging rights though, if were totally honest.
How did it taste do you ask? Well let me tell you. It tasted like a giant, hairy heap of fried nothing. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, it tasted like nothing. It was greatly unpleasant to pick the tiny hairs out of my teeth though. Note to self, tarantula is not an attractive first date food. I will admit that I wasn’t a true adventurer and I did not eat the whole thing. The thorax, as it turned out was not as thoroughly crisp as the rest of my little arachnid friend. I took one bite of that and decided it would serve a much better existence as a projectile from a Tuk Tuk.
Note to future travelers: If you decide to eat a gigantic spider….people will stop and stare. We had quite a little cheering squad by the time each person in our group had taken that first tentative bite.
