Tarantula

Lore & Background

Tarantulas are invertebrates that rely on an exoskeleton for muscular support. Their body comprises two main parts, the prosoma and the opisthosoma, connected by the pedicel. Depending on the species, body length ranges from about 5 to 11 cm with leg spans of 8–30 cm. Tarantulas have fangs that face downward, unlike true spiders, and they possess two book lungs. Their natural habitats include savanna, grassland, rainforest, desert, scrubland, mountains, and cloud forest. They are burrowers that live in the ground.

Reader's Guide

They have become increasingly popular as pets, with many New World species kept in captivity possessing urticating hairs that can cause skin irritation or eye damage. The name 'tarantula' originally referred to a wolf spider from Mediterranean Europe, but usage shifted to the Theraphosidae. Tarantulas are distinguished from other spiders by their downward-facing fangs, two book lungs, and longer lifespan. They do not use webs for hunting but instead use silk for burrow lining or as tripwires. Their distribution spans the Americas, Africa, much of Asia, Australia, and parts of Europe. The largest species can kill and consume small vertebrates such as lizards, mice, bats, birds, and small snakes.

Did You Know?

• Tarantula fangs face downward, while true spiders' fangs face each other.
• Many New World tarantulas have urticating hairs that can cause skin irritation or eye damage.
• The name 'tarantula' originally came from the Italian town of Taranto and referred to a wolf spider.

Tarantula Species on the Culinary Map

Among the roughly fifteen spider species that have been formally documented in scientific literature as suitable for human consumption, tarantulas hold a notable position. The Thailand zebra leg tarantula, identified by its binomial name Cyriopagopus albostriatus, is prepared fried and sold as a traditional snack in both Cambodia and Thailand. Its relative, the Thailand Black (Cyriopagopus minax), occupies a similar place in regional food customs. The Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) is another tarantula species listed among those with a documented history of human eating. Beyond these named examples, several other tarantula species are included in the broader catalogue of scientifically described edible spiders. Together, these entries reveal that tarantulas have been woven into the dietary practices of multiple cultures, appearing not as exotic curiosities but as established components of local food traditions that have persisted over time.

Arachnids Beyond the Tarantula

The tarantula is only one thread in a much wider tapestry of arachnid consumption that spans the entire class. Arachnids encompass spiders, scorpions, and mites (which include ticks), and each group has found its way onto human plates in different parts of the world. In Shandong province, China, fried scorpion is a long-standing traditional dish, representing one of the most recognizable examples of scorpion cuisine. In the Pacific island of New Caledonia, the golden orb-weaving spider (Trichonephila edulis) is eaten and is reportedly said to taste like pâté, a comparison that speaks to the richness of its flavour. Meanwhile, in the realm of mites, entire categories of food have been shaped by these tiny arachnids, most notably in the production of specialty cheeses in Germany and France. The breadth of these examples demonstrates that arachnid consumption is neither a single regional oddity nor limited to one order of the class; it is a genuinely global and multi-lineage food tradition.

From Raw to Ready: How Arachnids Are Prepared

Turning a live arachnid into a plate-ready dish involves a set of practical processing steps that vary by species and cultural context. The most common preparation method across the documented examples is heating, which serves both to cook the flesh and to neutralise potential biological hazards. For spiders with prominent fangs, defanging is a critical safety step in the preparation sequence, ensuring the diner is not at risk from the very apparatus that makes the animal dangerous in the wild. In certain cases, the processing extends further: arachnids may be dried and then ground into a powder, transforming them from a whole-animal snack into an ingredient that can be folded into other food products. This grinding step is particularly relevant in the context of mite-based cheeses, where the tiny creatures become an integral part of the cheese-making process rather than a standalone dish. The range of techniques, from simple frying to multi-stage drying and milling, shows that arachnid cuisine is far from a single, uniform practice.

Mite Cheeses and the Fine Line of Safety

Perhaps the most unexpected intersection of arachnids and human food is found in the world of cheese-making, where mites play a deliberate and traditional role. Milbenkäse, a German speciality, and Mimolette, a cheese traditionally produced around the city of Lille in France, both rely on mites as part of their character and production. In these cases, the mites are not contaminants but functional ingredients, contributing to the cheese's development in a way that has been passed down through generations of cheesemakers. However, this practice carries a documented safety caveat: consuming cheese mites in quantities exceeding the standard threshold of six mites per cubic inch can trigger an allergic reaction in some individuals. This limit underscores that even within a long-established culinary tradition, there are biological boundaries that must be respected. The mite-cheese relationship thus sits at a fascinating crossroads of gastronomy, microbiology, and food safety, reminding us that the line between a cherished ingredient and a potential allergen can be measured in fractions of a cubic inch.