In the past 6 years, Bull City Burger And Brewery in Durham, North Carolina, has celebrated its April Exotic Meat Month by featuring unusual foods from across the country and around the world. The restaurant has served iguana, alligator, camel, python, turtle, and a variety of insects. This month, it is a tarantula burger being served to the fearless, and the lucky.
There are only 15 of these hairy arachnids available to the restaurant, so anyone who is brave enough to try it must fill out a lottery ticket, have their number drawn, and then come to the restaurant to eat it. Winners of the drawing have 48 hours to claim their prize. The tarantulas are farmed and organically raised, which is why there are so few available.
Restaurant owner, Seth Gross, decided to add tarantula to his menu after reading about their popularity as a street food in Cambodia. There, where the treat has become a street food staple, it is mixed with salt and sugar, then cooked and served.
Gross oven roasts his tarantulas, puts them on a pasture-raised NC beef burger, with gruyere cheese, and a spicy chili sauce. He serves the burger with a side order of Dirty Fries. People who have eaten the crunchy spider say it tastes a lot like potato chips.
If the entire tarantula burger is eaten, the diner receives a limited edition Tarantula Challenge t-shirt, and bragging rights very few diners can claim.
Galactic Junction 