The last in the Gross Grub Series, is Scorpions!
This one I wanted to be special. I picked the largest scorpion I could find in the whole market. There were many to choose from but this one was the biggest.
I paid 5 baht (about 15 cents). I drove back to my room and got to filming.
The woman at the market told me – don’t eat the stinger. She didn’t have to tell me that, I’d have to be homer-dumb to eat that thing even if it was fried. I pulled off the stinger -and it didn’t come off easily. Which led me to believe – the scorpion wasn’t all that cooked. I should have stopped there, but, trusting the market lady that sells these things for a living – I thought – aaaaaaahhhh, why not?
I started with the claws.
The claws are inedible. BUT, the meat inside was just like crab meat. Basically I think a scorpion IS a crab that doesn’t like water.
I crunched the claws in my mouth and sucked out the meat. Good stuff! I thought, hey, this might be the best thing I’ve eaten all day!
I pulled off the legs – having learned something from eating the Giant Cockroach from day 6, that legs DO NOT belong in the mouth. They don’t even break down from the teeth in your mouth – how would they break down in your stomach? I’m about to see the answer to that question as I have my first #2 since eating the legs and all the bugs from this series.
So, I went for the head. I later learned that in the upper jaw is where the poison is manufactured that gets stored in the tail. I ate it with abandoned, thinking – the claws were great – what’s a little head?
I ate the entire thing. It was QUITE a bit more chewy (tough) than the giant cockroach, and not really that great of a taste. When I got to the azz- I stopped and removed it – it appeared there was something left there – don’t they clean the bowels on these things before people eat them??? JEEZ!
I ate the tail which was like eating twigs.
I finished filming another video and hurried off to run at a park since it was getting dark. I started to salivate wildly – like an animal.
I thought it was just the grease they used to fry the scorpion and other bugs I just ate so I thought nothing of it.
I ran about 30 minutes when I realized –
hey, dummy, you can hardly breathe. What’s up?
I ran a bit more and when it didn’t get better I walked. As I walked it got worse. Soon I was breathing about half my normal capacity.
I thought, this sucks.
By the time I got to my motorbike my legs were shaking – like tremors. I was dizzy and my heart felt weird like not beating correctly.
I went back to room and got stuff for hospital, money, etc.
At emergency room I told them – and they said – scorpion allergy.
That sucks.
I could hardly breathe at this point.
They IV’ed me up with some dextrose and fed some anti-allergy meds into the line. They watched me a bit and told me to overnight it as anything can happen in first 24 hours.
I stayed overnight -and took more anti-allergy pills all night. I got gradually better as the night went on.
Woke up in the morning ready to go – and left about 9:00 I think.
What I learned upon looking up allergic reactions to scorpions is that:
1. Excess salivation like a Marmaduke is a key symptom.
2. Thousands of people die from it each year as they go into shock during the reaction.
Oh well, I’m still here.
So – this has been your Gross Grub Series. Occasionally I’ll find more videos on the net with this subject but for now – COUNT ME OUT! I ate more bugs that most people will eat their whole lifetime – on purpose or accident.
Be careful with Scorpions, snakes and things with venom. Apparently the heat while frying it doesn’t render it completely harmless!
Other Gross Grub Series Posts:
Gross Grub 1: Ant Larvae – the post that started the infatuation… the FIRE if you will
Gross Grub 2: Grasshoppers – just like potato chips, if you believe that! (don’t)
Gross Grub 3: Silkworm Larvae – not too bad. Like eating patches of silk – creamy gushy silk, that is.
Gross Grub 4: Black Beetles
Gross Grub 5: Hellgrammites!
Gross Grub 6: Giant Chinese Cockroach!
Gross Grub 7: A girl from Cambodia eats Baby Birds!
Gross Grub 8: Eating Scorpion! – you’re here!
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