Some Unusual Foods in Cambodia
Don't know if Anthony Bourdain has made his way through Cambodia (probably) but there were several foods for sale that we had never seen before.
A fast stop on the way from Phnom Penh to Kampot at the "fried frog" stand. These little frogs are considered a delicacy and some of the group, including intrepid Karen from Perth, Australia gave it a go. I'm rather finicky when it comes to picking a frog out of a platter that everyone else was touching, and had been sitting out in the heat, AND fried in god-knows what. Not for me. Eak thinks they are delicious. Karen said "not bad."
Frogs are also widely eaten for lunch in the country. The farmers look for a big crab hole and poke around with a stick. If they feel a frog, they use another stick with a hook on the end to drag the frog out and make a fast pot of frog soup.
Delicious number two - the ever-popular fried Tarantulas. On the way to Kratie, our lunch stop was at Skoun. Vendors all over the place with basins of fried Tarantulas on their heads. The Tarantulas are gathered in the nearby fields every morning, fried up and sold. They sell an average of 1,000 a day! One spider is 1,000 Rials or 25 cents. Some people buy hundreds of spiders, alive and/or dead, and add to jugs of wine for flavor and/or eating. Double yuk... Eak eats legs only. Doesn't care for the body. Never-say-die Karen, tried one and was underwhelmed. Richard and others let the live Tarantulas sit on their arms or in hands. Still...double yuk...
Food opportunity number three - Fried snakes. We've seen snakes in wine bottles before. Live Snakes for sale. Chunks of Snake meat all over Asia but Fried Snake was a new one. (Where have we been!) A vendor along the road was selling prawns and the plate next to had Fried Snakes. I can't imagine how hot that oil must have been to fry up an almost perfect coiled snake. Ordinary, non-poisonous snakes according to Eak. This time...no one in our group bought or tried any.
Mollusks? This isn't that unusual but the manner was. There were street vendors all over Cambodia with pushcarts filled with these little clam-like shells and little sea snails. They are cooked by drying in the sun with lots of salt and then sold on the streets. The Cambodians eat them by the handful. Eww... Not because of what they are but sitting in the sun for days after they are cooked? Surely, that can't be good...
