Tarantulas for lunch in Cambodian town

The market town of Skuon in Cambodia has been so overrun with eight-legged creepy crawlies they have taken to eating them. Photo / Getty Images

Visitors to the Cambodian town of Skuon had better watch out for tarantulas - not just scurrying over their toes... but also in their meals.

The market town has been so overrun with the eight-legged creepy crawlies they have taken to eating them.

Known as "Spider Town", the insects were running all over surfaces in the area and dropping onto people's heads.

The arachnids are now becoming a tasty snack - deep fried and served with a pinch of herbs on a bed of noodles or rice. Photo / Getty Images

But in a gruesome fervour of resourcefulness by the locals the arachnids are now becoming a tasty snack - deep fried and served with a pinch of herbs on a bed of noodles or rice.

They are said to be similar to chicken or cod but, take heed, it's only the legs that should be consumed.

Bite into the abdomen and diners risk munching on innards and the spider's bodily fluids.

A tourist samples a tarantula leg - the only part worth eating. Photo / Flickr, Michael Klein

Some locals have gone one step further and brewed wine with the hairy critters.

However while many people would no doubt run screaming in the opposite direction at the mere thought of the idea, the practice has been going on in Skuon since the 1970's.

Spiders had always infested the town but it was only when a devastating famine struck the area that residents began turning to the creatures as a food source.

Under Pol Pot's dictatorship urban dwellers were forced to move to the countryside to work in collective farms and on forced labour projects.

But the exiles did not know how to farm and slowly began to starve.

Spiders had always infested the town but it was only when a devastating famine struck in the 1970's that residents began turning to the creatures as a food source. Photo / Flickr, Paul Mannix

Hungry and desperate enough to go to any extreme the locals began to eat the arachnids overtaking their homes.

These days however, the dish is considered a delicacy and is very popular with tourists.