In rural Cambodia, fried tarantulas are a crispy delicacy

Market visitors buying fried tarantulas offered at the Oudongk market. In Cambodia, fried tarantulas in spicy sauce are considered a delicacy. Photos: dpa

Oudongk market, located around one hour north of central Phnom Penh, is not your usual throng of food vendors. Alongside grilled chicken and banana pancakes, visitors can also find cooked silkworms, crispy fried crickets, vast piles of red ants complete with bone-white eggs, and mounds of fried tarantulas.

At the 50m-long market, where vendors line the base of a forested hill topped by a stupa, 25-year-old Nai Sin rests calmly behind trays containing browned crickets and a huge pile of about 50 fried tarantulas.