Andrew Zimmern Says Fried Tarantulas Taste Similar To This Seafood

Chef Andrew Zimmern is best known for sampling bizarre foods in far-off countries, such as horse rib in Kazakhstan and giraffe beetles in Madagascar. So it comes as no surprise that the TV personality has also dined on fried tarantulas. Interestingly, he compared the flavor of this unusual Southeast Asian delicacy to that of a variety of seafood.

"Of all the foods I have eaten in my lifetime, the tarantula strikes me as one of the strangest from a psychological standpoint," said Zimmern on his website. "We are pre-conditioned in this country to think of these fuzzy insects as scary and poisonous, belonging on Halloween decorations, not dinner plates. But they taste great, reminding me of land crabs, sweet and delicate."

In countries like Cambodia, tarantulas are a popular but expensive street food that's wok-fried with garlic or even tossed in sugar and turned into a sweet treat. It was one of the foods that the locals turned to after the Khmer Rouge overthrew the government in the 1970s and forced people into the hillsides; eating tarantulas was a way to survive for those who were otherwise facing starvation. Nowadays, in some areas of Cambodia, like Skuon, frying these creepy crawlies street-side has become a tourist attraction.

Zimmern only eats fresh tarantulas, preferring to watch street vendors cook them fresh in their woks, because "the flavor of an old fried tarantula is unpleasant, reeking of fryer oil and lacking all the sugary nuance of a fresh crab."

Land crabs are a variety of crustaceans that have evolved to live on land (versus sea or freshwater crabs that reside in saltwater, lakes, or estuaries) that can be boiled, stuffed, or even turned into soup with a dash of coconut milk or cream. They have delicate flesh with a sweet flavor and an almost nutty quality. When tarantulas are fried or grilled, the cooking process singes off some of their outer hairs, and the legs become crispy on the outside. However, the abdomen and innards have a softer center that's similar in character to the taste and texture of land crabs. Unlike other fried insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers, tarantulas don't have any chewy wings or shells. However, they do have fangs, which are fascinatingly employed as toothpicks by the Piaroa Indians of Venezuela.

Despite sampling all sorts of weird and wonderful dishes from around the globe, Spam is the one food that Andrew Zimmern refuses to eat because he doesn't enjoy the taste or texture. He also dislikes that the processed pork product is chemically treated and loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. That said, the chef is usually game for trying anything; he's even tasted the niche vegan dish called stinky tofu that smells like a dumpster.