Skuon Fried Spiders

Skuon is a junction town where buses stop, and the stop is the point: women carry trays of a-ping, tarantulas bred or dug from burrows in the surrounding country, fried whole with garlic and salt until the legs are crisp and the body soft. They are eaten as a snack, legs first, and the abdomen divides opinion sharply. The trade is usually said to have grown during the years of severe food shortage in the 1970s, when people ate what they could find, and to have persisted as a taste afterwards; whether that origin is the whole story is debated. Crickets, silkworms and other fried insects are sold alongside. The town has nothing else and the stop lasts as long as the bus does.

What you actually see

• Trays of fried tarantulas - sold whole by women working the bus stop.
• The eating order - legs first, the abdomen left to preference.
• Other fried insects - crickets, silkworms and beetles alongside.
• The bus-stop trade - the whole economy of a highway junction.

When to go

Year round; the stop happens whenever buses pass, which is through the day. The town is a transit point on the road between Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham or Kratie.

Honest expectations

The town has nothing to see beyond the stalls. Hygiene varies and the busiest sellers with high turnover are the safer choice. Photographing sellers without buying is not well received. Wild-caught spider populations have declined with the trade.

Nearby

Kampong Cham lies northeast; Phnom Penh is south.