I have, as I may have mentioned, eaten a variety of new and interesting recipes during the duration of this trip. These have ranged from the moderately unusual: kangaroo and crocodile, to the downright strange: sheep's testicles, silk-worm grubs, pigs ears and chicken feet.

I like to think that I am, within reason, pretty well up for most things from a gastronomic point of view. It was with some surprise, therefore, that in Cambodia I hit a definitive limit to my culinary exploration when I was confronted with a platter piled high with garlic fried tarantula.

It doesn't really matter how you dress them up. Fry them in garlic, present them on a bed of freshly chopped green salad, drizzle them with a rich, creamy cheese and chive sauce, when all is said and done they are still bloody great, hairy, black spiders.

YUK YUK YUK!