Show About Eating Tarantulas

[JacenBeers]

I was on holidays for a long time and I just got back. While I was gone I saw a show on the Canadian Discovery Channel called Insect Eaters. One of the episodes was about a man in Thailand who was in search of tribal people who eat giant spiders. In the end he found an old lady who still eats tarantulas and so they went out and caught a spider that was definitely some sort of Haplopelma. The lady picked it up with her hands once it was dug out of its burrow and obviously agitated. She knew how to grab it and hold it so that it doesnt bite her. She immediately pulled its fangs off and let it walk up her arm and it left a blood trail behind. As it slowly died she pulled each of its legs off individually and wrapped them in leaves and ate them and shared some with the researcher. She then pulled the cephalothorax off and threw it away. SHe squeezed the innards of the abdomen onto a bowl of rice and used it as flavoring. I was sad to see that tarantula suffering but it was interesting.

 

[RugbyDave]

sad yes, but still aparently part of life somewhere.

I've also seen a show on Discovery about some guy going out and eating a T with some tribal guys. Sorry, i cant add any more info, but it was actually a show called SPIDER! or SPIDERS! about 4 years ago.

a big white guy with a beard was hosting and playing with some T.blondi's in nature.

crazy!
peace,
dave

 

[Nexus]

I saw a similar documentary in the UK a while back. It was looking at some tribesmen living in the jungle. It showed them hunting monkeys in the trees with blow darts; they were deadshots with the things.

They also demonstrated how when they found a Tarantula they would grab it and wrap it in a leaf and then tie it up using its stalk. They kept them alive as a source of food for when they need it. They then simply cooked them on a fire; they also showed what is considered a real treat where a female has an eggsac and it could actually be fried in a similar way to that of a fried hen's egg.

 

[ahkiu]

i'v seem something similar too

the tribesmen would squeeze the eggs out of the t and cook it on a large broad leaf and make an ommlette. Whilst they kinda burnt the abdomen to remove the urticulating hairs.

i remember vividly how they also once they finished their meal use the t's fangs as toothpicks ! it's the complete meal

 

[JacenBeers]

This show wasnt really in the jungle. This guy was researching this because he wanted to use tarantulas in his insect restaurant chain as part of his menu.

 

[nemesis6sic6]

Hullo

My freind, he's from Cambodia
He disgusted me once while I went to his house and saw him eat a freaking T(I wasn't a fanatic of T's back then)
I didn't really know what it was all i knew it was a blue legged T( haplopelma look alike) not really sure if it was lividum but yeah.
Any ways I saw him the other day after 4 years and we talked about it and said he eats them every week because it is a cambodian cuisine. well any ways just tought this was interesting how we buy these expencive Ts from foreign places and people from there eat them like if they were cows

 

[Mendnwngs]

I have a laoatian co-worker

Who has told me all about how they eat Ts there.

The two main Ts eaten: H. Lividum, and Thailand black (cant think of scientific name)

Talk about an expensive meal..

-Jason

 

[Tarantula Lover]

Re: I have a laoatian co-worker

Originally posted by Mendnwngs
Who has told me all about how they eat Ts there.

The two main Ts eaten: H. Lividum, and Thailand black (cant think of scientific name)

Talk about an expensive meal..

-Jason

Thailand Black (Haplopelma minax)

I have also seen some show similar to what you guys are talking about, very sad. But thats life as RugbyDave puts it!


James

 

[Arachnopuppy]

I really don't care if people want to eat them or not, but I definitely am against, with all my will and strength, the unnecessary torture of the animal right before its death. Just make a quick kill of the thing and get it over with. There is already enough pain and suffering in this world as it is. People really don't need to add anymore. And no, I am not religious.

 

[RugbyDave]

they use the fangs as toothpicks...

i guess it could be argued that, as for the fang-ripping off, it's not un-necessary, as they do end up using the fangs, but then, that whole thing probably doesn't belong here

peace
dave

 

[Nexus]

the tribesmen would squeeze the eggs out of the t and cook it on a large broad leaf and make an ommlette. Whilst they kinda burnt the abdomen to remove the urticulating hairs.

i remember vividly how they also once they finished their meal use the t's fangs as toothpicks ! it's the complete meal

Yeah, thats the one, I'd forgoten about the toothpick part. I'm pretty sure it was aired twice, I think I saw it on BBC2 at about 4am in the morning.

 

[genious_gr]

Originally posted by JacenBeers
I was on holidays for a long time and I just got back. While I was gone I saw a show on the Canadian Discovery Channel called ...........suffering but it was interesting.

OMG!!!! not even cooked?

I guess cooked, it should taste like shrimp or something, but raw?
That's...... YACK!

 

[luther]

Eating spiders is not so far removed from eating shrimp. In the spirit of science we should all go eat one of our tarantulas.



Maybe not

 

[ahkiu]

you first

 

[alidpayne]

a couple of weeks ago, we were discussing the issue of poisinous vs. venomous on the ats listserv. Darrin Vernier brought up eating them, and I antagonized Rick west into discussing it. Rick West had some interesting things to say.

The conversation (part of it) follows.

Darrin started it by saying:

"No one I am aware of eats tarantulas or other spiders currently in the pet trade, nor would they be likely to cause such harm if ingested. There is no such thing as a 'poisonous' tarantula or spider, or even scorpion or rattlesnake for that matter."

My response was:
" No one, that is except Rick West. LOL
http://www.birdspiders.com/archive/1/0016.htm
Makes me sad to look at that picture the way it made me sad when they shot Bambi's mother. Hey Rick, what did it taste like? I love all mine to much to do any taste testing!"

Rick answered my question with:

"Well, the tarantula carapace and legs cooked on open hot coals taste like charred prawn meat ... the 'hard boiled' abdominal contents were very gritty and bitter ... a little better if there was more 'roe' from the large females. The species eaten
were either Theraphosa apophysis or T. blondi."

"To give you a better prospective on this 'cultural arachnophagy' (eating arachnids) behaviour, Cambodians collected and cooked up tarantulas (mainly Haplopelma spp.) for both the locals and tourists. Last year alone, it was estimated (undoubtedly
underestimated), by biologists working with collector's quotas and number estimates, that around 100,000 tarantulas were collected, cooked and eaten ... a lucky few were shipped to Bangkok for pet trade export. It's a tough world out there for
tarantulas!!

Rick C. West"



So, there you have it!

Ali

 

[alidpayne]

Here is a link to another interesting article, brought to my attention by Steve Nunn.

Ali

http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s664704.htm

 

[MizM]

Wow... great article!!!

We really can't slam people who eat them though... it's your ancestry that dictates what you are brought up to eat!

I have a friend who collects pretty chickens...
The Vietnamese eat canines...
Cows are sacred in India...

It just depends where you come from I guess!

 

[Ephesians]

Yeah, I was gonna mention, but Ali did first, that Rick West did a show called Spidermania for Animal Planet not too far back. Towards the end of the show he and the tribesmen he was with dined on a few theraphosids. Other than that, it was a great show. I would have liked it to become a series. Heck if I had my way it would take the place of Steve-O's cracked out program. Oye mate; we got a biggun here. She's a real mamma jamma.

In Him,
Marcus

 

[genious_gr]

Originally posted by alidpayne
Here is a link to another interesting article, brought to my attention by Steve Nunn.

Ali

http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s664704.htm

DUDE those guys are stupid, if they had sold all those T's in that picture, they'd make enough money to feed a village!!!!




On the other hand, maybe they cant sell themm...:8o

 

[MizM]

Originally posted by Ephesians
Yeah, I was gonna mention, but Ali did first, that Rick West did a show called Spidermania for Animal Planet not too far back. Towards the end of the show he and the tribesmen he was with dined on a few theraphosids. Other than that, it was a great show. I would have liked it to become a series. Heck if I had my way it would take the place of Steve-O's cracked out program. Oye mate; we got a biggun here. She's a real mamma jamma.

In Him,
Marcus

If I had MY way, Rick West would replace A LOT of movies and t.v. shows. Heck, I'd rather watch HIM and learn something than drool over Brad Pitt for a couple of hours!!!! Oh my, does that make me a knowledge geek?!?!? WHO CARES!!!