Deep Fried Critters in Thailand

Southeast Asia is definitely a location where you can experience a different way of life. This includes some of the things you can find to eat on the streets of the cities.

There is a certain aspect to being a tourist that can make you wonder a bit. The issue is whether some of the things you experience are things the locals really do or just something setup to see how gullible tourists are. In Southeast Asia, this often centers on the food being eaten.

You've probably watched a few travel shows or perhaps Bizarre Foods that have centered on Asia. The show will focus on the daily meals of locals, but also bring in the oddity that seems primarily to be tailored to the tourist crowd. You know - fried cow testicles, eyes and what have you. The Thailand version of the mystery meal is found with the odd deep friend critters you find in kiosks on the road.

Let's start with the basics. Can you really buy fried spiders and other bugs on the side of the road? Yes, you can. The stranger the food stuff, the more likely it is to be found crisped up on a stick. The food ranges from big spiders to crickets to roaches to...well, anything you can stick on the pointy end of the stick.

The eating process is also fairly uniform. The kiosks tend to be in locations where tourists congregate. More pointedly, the locations are ones where tourists tend to congregate to consume adult beverages. You don't see fried spider kiosks outside the local museum, but they can always be found outside of the bars. This should tell you a lot.

So, what does fried spider taste like? It tastes like fried cricket, roach and so on. The basic cooking approach seems to be to fry the insect until it is extremely overdone. There is no taste other than the oil. This should also be another clue as to whether locals eat these things.

Having spent many months in Thailand, I can tell you that locals will occasionally eat the odd cooked insect. That being said, it is very rare. The fried critters you find on the side of the road outside of adult beverage establishments tend to be tailored for the tourists. This tends to be true around the world, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the same goes for Thailand.

If you feel like trying a deep fried spider in Thailand, have at it. Just don't assume the locals munch on them every night!