Cheung Prey district

Cheung Prey
ស្រុកជើងព្រៃ
District (srok)
Fried spiders for sale at the market in Skuon, Cheung Prey
Fried spiders for sale at the market in Skuon, Cheung Prey
Cheung Prey is located in Cambodia
Cheung Prey
Cheung Prey
Location in Cambodia
Coordinates: 12°3′4″N 105°4′15″E / 12.05111°N 105.07083°E / 12.05111; 105.07083
Country Cambodia
ProvinceKampong Cham
Communes10
Villages74
Population
 (1998)[1]
 • Total74,859
Time zone+7
Geocode0303
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Cheung Prey (Khmer: ស្រុកជើងព្រៃ, lit. 'The Jungle Foots') is a district (srok) of Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. The district capital is Skuon town. This busy market town has grown up around the intersection of National Highway 6 and National Highway 7. Skun is around 49 kilometres east of the provincial capital at Kampong Cham city and 75 kilometres north of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.[2]

The district capital of Skuon is also known as "Spiderville."[3] The town has become famous with both locals and international visitors to Cambodia for its fried spiders.[4] The spiders are either captured in their burrows or bred for sale. First the venom is removed and then the spider is killed by squeezing the thorax. The spiders are then fried whole with garlic and salt. The practice of eating spiders in Cheung Prey began under the Democratic Kampuchea regime in Cambodia. Eating spiders and other insects helped locals starving from the harsh policies of the Khmer Rouge. Now that local residents have acquired the taste, the fame of the crunchy spiders has spread and people travel from Phnom Penh just to sample the deep fried arachnae.[5] International visitors also travel to Skun to see the spiders, but most are content to take photographs rather than sample this unusual delicacy.

  1. ^ General Population Census of Cambodia, 1998: Village Gazetteer. National Institute of Statistics. February 2000. pp. 36–37.
  2. ^ Total Road Atlas of Cambodia 2006 (3rd ed.). Total Cambodge. 2006. p. 44.
  3. ^ Price, Liz (March 25, 2006). "Braving the bugs". The Star online. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  4. ^ "Fried spider, anyone?". The Independent. 24 September 2006. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  5. ^ McNabb, Denise (19 March 2008). "Cambodia at the coalface". The Independent via Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2009-01-30.