Fried Scorpions in Beijing 2023-2025
Deep-fried scorpion skewers are a real delicacy in China
Best time: all year round
A popular joke says that Chinese eat everything with legs, except tables and everything with wings, except airplanes. Visit one of the Beijing food markets where your appetite of the adventurous can be tested with many strange and even disgusting creatures displayed on stalls. For those who crave for noodles, pork, vegetables, rice or dumplings, no worries, regular food is also there. But why not try the weirdest snack!
Walking among the food stalls at the Beijing market, you'll find a variety of items that aren’t labeled as food. These are snakes, starfish, seahorses, silkworm cocoons, and, of course, scorpions, small and big. Scorpions are set on a stick while alive and continue crankling in agony until this specific shish-kebab is immersed into boiling oil. They can also be cooked in so many different ways—grilled scorpions, roasted scorpions, or (which is crazy!) scorpions can be even consumed alive. Fried scorpions taste nutty and crunchy, having an odd similarity with potato chips.
