# UUHHGG!! I just bit into a BIG SPIDER!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2003, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873 "2003-06-05T17:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/61 "2003-06-06T12:42:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Antiquarian \* > \*\*I am now an Edible-Arachnophobic. \*\* [Me being a git] But haven’t we always been edible? 😉 [/me being a git] ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/62 "2003-06-06T13:59:53Z")
[They’re a delicacy for some.](http://www.arachnophiliac.com/burrow/lunch.htm) > [@](#): > > The following tarantulas are known to be eaten by the natives in their home continents: > > Theraphosa blondi (Goliath or Giant Tarantula) - South America > Haplopelma albostriatus (Thailand Black or Edible Tarantula) - Asia. > > Both of these spider are caught and then they are roasted over a fire to burn off the hairs. I’ve been told that tarantula tastes a bit like prawns. > > More to follow soon! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/63 "2003-06-06T14:05:40Z")
Hookay Kalhoun, jest fer you I’ll adopt a new sig line… _“Evidently I suck!”_. And Antiquarian, be forewarned that when the pending National Geographic issue with pictures of you comes out, we’re all going to be examining your teeth, looking at what’s caught inbetween, and murmuring to our collective selves “That ain’t chicken.” ---
**Author:** ![cybersnark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@cybersnark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cybersnark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/64 "2003-06-06T14:08:25Z")
Not for the faint of heart (or weak of tummy): [http://www.farangonline.com/disp\_articles.asp?art=423&origin=Bottom%20Line](http://www.farangonline.com/disp_articles.asp?art=423&origin=Bottom%20Line) ---
**Author:** ![cybersnark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@cybersnark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cybersnark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/65 "2003-06-06T14:10:08Z")
For those to squeamish to read the article I just posted, here’s an excerpt: “The spiders are squeezed into bottles of rice wine, which is then sold, saturated with the bloated corpses of the expired tarantulas. Snake wine is popular as well, and bottles, filled with a little wine and a lot of snake, are on sale in Phnom Penh.” MMMM!! Just like momma used to make! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/66 "2003-06-06T14:18:17Z")
Cybersnark, you can go sit in the corner with Lieu. That whole bug wine thing is just evil. I’ll be dreaming of drunken, bloated spiders with baby hitchhikers on their abdomens, reciting Lieu’s poetry. Suckity, suckity, SUCK! ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/67 "2003-06-06T14:46:12Z")
This reminds me of a special on the Piaroa tribe of the Amazon that I saw on Discovery or Lifetime or A&E or some other cable channel. And they even have useful information on a [webpage](http://www.angliatv.co.uk/survival/factsheets/surv2.html) - what’s the world coming to? I bet I could even get sports scores on this intarweb. > [@](#): > > "Wariena snapped off a piece of vine and crouched in the dappled sunlight at the entrance to the burrow. Cautiously he began to twiddle the vine between thumb and forefinger. Muttering to the shaman, he pulled the vine out very slowly. > > I saw her front feet first, padding delicately but urgently after this intruder. Then Wariena lifted his right hand, keeping the vine still in his left hand, and moved his arm over her body, lowering his hand to just above the spider’s thorax. With a quick movement, he pinned her to the leaf litter. Her eight legs were folded back and behind her abdomen. She was caught and helpless. > > Wariena pulled a broad leaf from its stalk and expertly wrapped her up with a piece of vine. She was trussed, alive, and would remain so until the hunters became hungry". And eating a spider? > [@](#): > > The Indians made a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together. In a few minutes Lanyetsa had a small flame glowing in the wood shavings in his hands. The spiders were unwrapped, and slain by pushing a wooden spike through their bodies. The two formidable fangs were removed and kept to one side; the large abdomen was twisted off and the contents were squeezed onto a leaf. Each female yields about 70-80 eggs. These were wrapped like a parcel and cooked in the hot ashes at the edge of the fire for a couple of minutes. > > The result was a very bitter omelette – quite horrible, but I was hungry! The rest of the spider was delicious though. The legs were held over the flames to singe off the hairs, and then barbecued with the rest of the body. It tasted like crab. Finally, the shaman picked up one of the fangs, and used it as a toothpick!" Now, **Antiquarian** , that’s eating a spider with _style_. If only they would have washed it down with some spider wine. ---
**Author:** ![ageless6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@ageless6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ageless6)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/68 "2003-06-06T14:46:13Z")
Antiquarian: You finish that plate of spiders, young man, or you get no banana slugs for dessert. Think of the starving arachnid lovers in China. And quit biting off the most succulent parts and pushing the rest around your plate with your spider chopsticks! Hoestly, you kids are so spoiled nowadays. In my day we didn’t get spiders in our baskets of strawberries. No, we had to get a pail and search the woods until we filled the pail, and if you think keeping a pail of spiders IN the pail was easy, well…rumble, grumble, mumble… ---
**Author:** ![Antiquarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Antiquarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antiquarian)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/69 "2003-06-06T14:58:15Z")
**Lieu** said: > [@](#): > > And Antiquarian, be forewarned that when the pending National Geographic issue with pictures of you comes out, we’re all going to be examining your teeth, looking at what’s caught inbetween, and murmuring to our collective selves “That ain’t chicken.” no. > [@](#): > > snip…saturated with the bloated corpses of the expired tarantulas… Antiquarian’s head bobs a little, wobbles too and fro, rocks back and forth slightly, like an excited mental patient…and finally re-swallows what little breakfast that tried to come up and out… I feel green. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/70 "2003-06-06T15:00:42Z")
lol well haven’t anyone noticed that sometimes you get worms along with the lettus you buy, or tomatos? Mostly it’s composed of little black flies, but occasionaly spiders and big fat worms. Mmm…that whole timbit about how they cook the tarantulas…got my stomach rumbling. _ **kidding!** _ Well at least we all know now what to do if we ever got lost in a jungle for a couple of days, and we catch a taratula…or two… ---
**Author:** ![ace22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@ace22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ace22)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/71 "2003-06-06T16:00:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 5U1C1D3 \* > **lol well haven’t anyone noticed that sometimes you get worms along with the lettus you buy, or tomatos? > Mostly it’s composed of little black flies, but occasionaly spiders and big fat worms.** And anybody who has eaten as many sunflower seeds as me has run accross many many little orange worms in their day. This is why it pays to crack open the sunflower seed, not eat it whole! And if there is a little tiny round hole in the shell, beware! ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/72 "2003-06-06T16:48:09Z")
I’ll have you know, I read this thread while eating strawberry candy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/73 "2003-06-06T18:43:47Z")
I always said I’d try anything once. And that has included escargot. Spiders, though… I just don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![modro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/74 "2003-06-06T21:09:26Z")
Hmm… In my fridge I have strawberries. Upstairs in my room, I have a tarantula. I think I could go for some desert. How about you, **Antiquarian** ---
**Author:** ![acudoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@acudoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acudoc)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/75 "2003-06-09T14:12:40Z")
Well, in parts of SE Asia, Thailand I believe, tarantulas are deep fried and enjoyed quite a bit. We do have a cultural disgust for eating insects that is not shared by the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/76 "2003-06-09T16:52:01Z")
Its not THAT big of a deal…nothing that isnt on Fear Factor every week. Just think of yourself as one of the people that ate all those bugs and still didnt get the 50K. ---
**Author:** ![Tenny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenny)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/77 "2003-06-09T17:00:16Z")
I KNEW there was a reason I didn’t eat strawberries! ---
**Author:** ![LarryBobb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@LarryBobb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LarryBobb)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/78 "2003-06-09T17:52:13Z")
Look, I hate to be too rational about this, but isn’t this really over reacting? Like most of the people who post here, I am an omnivore - meaning that I take a little meat with my salad. So what’s the difference here? Willful suspension of reality. When I bite into a hot dog, I don’t think about what was moving through the casing before they hacked the cow open and stuffed its meat into its intestine. I don’t think about how there’s a certain FDA accepted level of rat feces in it. I think about how tasty it is with the full complement of condoments (no ketchup)and wonder if the burgers in the place are half as good as the hot dogs. Why? Because as an omnivore, I really can’t think about what happened to bring the beautiful steak to my table (medium rare, thank you). Or the grilled chicken breast… Or the deep fried tarantula. So unless Antiquarian is a vegetarian, I really don’t feel any sympathy. As some of the other posts suggest, perhaps it would be better deep fried with garlic salt next time. If you are a vegetarian, then you have my deepest sympathies. ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/79 "2003-06-09T17:57:04Z")
**Ino** , the article you just posted made my eyes water and bile rise to my throat. That was the most disgusting thing I have ever visualised and now I must go heave into the toilet. Thanks a lot. _vomit smiley_ ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873/80 "2003-06-09T18:25:15Z")
I saw that same show, Ino. We should note that those were HUGE honking tarantulas that the natives were eating. Once they were roasted in a fire, they didn’t resemble spiders, but crabs. I remember one of the natives snapped a leg apart, and the white meat protruded from the shell precisely like crabmeat from a crabshell. Arachnids and crabs are relatives, after all. However, a spider egg omelet - gack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uuhhgg-i-just-bit-into-a-big-spider/179873.md?page=5)