Image: ABC

By Zoe Osborne
27 July 2019

They’re a popular treat, if not a little hairy, but is the trade in one of Cambodia’s favourite snack foods on its last legs?

"As commerce picked up and people started to travel more, the demand for deep-fried A-Ping grew, and because Skuon was located on one of Cambodia’s most significant intersections, the town became the epicentre of the trade."

"But occasionally one slips through with fangs intact and if you’re bitten, the pain can last for hours.“It makes your heart pound — no hallucinations, just body pain,” says Kong."

"One vendor, Mach, buys a new batch of spiders every three days, waking up at 5am to fry them before selling them at the intersection.“I usually buy 400 to 500. If a lot of people pass by I can sell up to 100 per day.”

"She sells her spiders to passengers for 2-3,000 riel a head, the equivalent of several meals in Cambodia where the average annual household income is under $2,000."

"“In Pub Street in Siem Reap, tourists don’t necessarily buy the spiders so [vendors] have a $1 a photo policy,” says Sreynoch.Some of Skuon’s vendors also offer cooking classes and hunting expeditions, and prices are high.One vendor’s most recent customer asked to film her cooking. She charged him $US50. Others have taken film teams and journalists out to find spiders, again for a fee."

Full https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-27/ ... e/11248328