Awhile back I mentioned that I thought that it odd that nobody eats
tarantulas because of their close relationship to crabs and the
like--favorite foods in many cuisines. Last night I was watching a
show on a tribe of Amazonian Indians and lo and behold, they were
trapping and cooking the big ol' spiders. And I do mean big. These
guys were the size of blue crabs. I would guess that they're at least
eight inches across the spread legs.
"Take one tarantula..." Not an easy process! First they catch the
critters by luring them out of their tunnels with a long strip of
grass. The hunter then very deftly grabs the spider by the thorax,
folds the legs back and wraps the spider in a leaf for transportation
to the camp site.
At the campsite, the spiders are killed. Everything is used. The
abdomens are removed and stripped of eggs. The eggs are wrapped in a
leaf and roasted over a fire to produce a spider egg omelette. The
bodies are tossed directly onto a fire to singe off the hair and to
cook the meat. When they're done, the legs and thorax are cracked
open and picked just like when you eat a crab. After the meal the
fangs--which are a good inch and a half long-- are used as
toothpicks. It was emphasized that the spiders taste *very* much like
crab.
Posted by Stephen Ceideburg From: Joan Woodward Date: 17 Sep 02
