Now this is worthy of a blog, especially as you will probably be as shocked as I was if you know Helen. Usually the one to pass up meat that contains any obvious fatty bits or gristle, Helen likes her meat to look pretty. Now, there are so many contradictions to this as she will eat hot dogs, for example, and God knows what they contain. But nevertheless they at least look appealing. You see where I’m going with this.
We were on our way to Siem Reap by bus, which usually includes a stop in a place famed for eating Tarantulas called Skuon and affectionately nicknamed Spiderville. There they were, piled high on a wicker tray and were the object of many fascinated tourists flashing away with their cameras. They looked just as you would imagine. Apparently they taste, as every alien meat seems to, like chicken. I’ll take their word for it. Next to them was a whole array of insects, which, to my obvious disgust (I tried to hide it but couldn’t) were being dished out to locals in small plastic bags like pick and mix at the cinema. I lost myself in the horror of what I was seeing. Once I turned around and came to, consternation and surprise enveloping my face, Helen was being handed a deep-fried Cricket to sample from a food stall after having had its legs and other unsavoury bits politely stripped from its body. Now, in the split-seconds it takes for thoughts to be processed, I assumed that Helen would refuse and laugh it off. But immediately it occurred to me that I don’t know Helen as I thought I did. Following some understandable hesitation, she put it in her mouth as I looked on, dancing on the spot with my hand hovering over my mouth in gesture at what I was witnessing. It wasn’t that anybody was eating one; hell, we’ve all seen Bear Grylls and contestants on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ eat far worse. It was that HELEN was eating one.
And what did it taste like? You were going to say chicken weren’t you? No. Apparently, by Helen’s admission it tasted like a crisp. Yes, a crisp! Sure. Good one. Well, if only I’d have known that. The next time I reach for a bag of over-priced Kettle Chips, I might reject them in favour of a few Crickets! I guess everything has the capacity to be palatable if you deep fry it.
Helen has declared that she doesn't want to try a spider, being a self-confessed arachnophobe, but she followed that statement up with, "I think I could as long as it doesn’t look like a spider." So watch this space...
We were on our way to Siem Reap by bus, which usually includes a stop in a place famed for eating Tarantulas called Skuon and affectionately nicknamed Spiderville. There they were, piled high on a wicker tray and were the object of many fascinated tourists flashing away with their cameras. They looked just as you would imagine. Apparently they taste, as every alien meat seems to, like chicken. I’ll take their word for it. Next to them was a whole array of insects, which, to my obvious disgust (I tried to hide it but couldn’t) were being dished out to locals in small plastic bags like pick and mix at the cinema. I lost myself in the horror of what I was seeing. Once I turned around and came to, consternation and surprise enveloping my face, Helen was being handed a deep-fried Cricket to sample from a food stall after having had its legs and other unsavoury bits politely stripped from its body. Now, in the split-seconds it takes for thoughts to be processed, I assumed that Helen would refuse and laugh it off. But immediately it occurred to me that I don’t know Helen as I thought I did. Following some understandable hesitation, she put it in her mouth as I looked on, dancing on the spot with my hand hovering over my mouth in gesture at what I was witnessing. It wasn’t that anybody was eating one; hell, we’ve all seen Bear Grylls and contestants on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’ eat far worse. It was that HELEN was eating one.
And what did it taste like? You were going to say chicken weren’t you? No. Apparently, by Helen’s admission it tasted like a crisp. Yes, a crisp! Sure. Good one. Well, if only I’d have known that. The next time I reach for a bag of over-priced Kettle Chips, I might reject them in favour of a few Crickets! I guess everything has the capacity to be palatable if you deep fry it.
Helen has declared that she doesn't want to try a spider, being a self-confessed arachnophobe, but she followed that statement up with, "I think I could as long as it doesn’t look like a spider." So watch this space...
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