Video shows chef cooking rare tarantula to make spider tacos
A restaurant in Mexico City is finding itself in hot water after a video of a chef preparing tarantula tacos was posted to Facebook.
The restaurant recently put the arachnids on its menu for 500 pesos (AUD$36) and posted a video on Facebook showing a chef torching one until blackened.
The only problem: The Mexican red rump tarantula is a protected species.
The federal environmental protection agency said Tuesday it was alerted to the situation via social media and seized four tarantula corpses that were ready to be served up on tortillas.
The tacos consist of a warm tortilla, smashed avocado, a little lime juice — and the seared spider.
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The Mexican red rump tarantula is known for the distinctive red hairs on their furry abdomen. The tarantulas can eject these hairs at attackers, which then embed themselves into a predator’s skin and eyes, causing discomfort.
The restaurant’s menu also features other creepy-crawlies such as grasshoppers, worms and ant eggs, which have a long tradition in Mexican cuisine, and scorpions, which are less common.
