Eating Scorpions in Beijing

When I visited China, I heard of a market where one could eat scorpions - Yandai Xiejie (Old Town Beijing). I'm curious and adventurous and this piqued my interest.

When I got there however, I must admit that it freaked me out a bit. The scorpions still had their venomous tail tips intact...full of potentially paralyzing and deadly poison! Supposedly if you cook the tail hot enough the poison is neutralized....but what guarantee did I have that the guy working the little scorpion skewer stand would cook it enough? 

Just as I was about to change my mind a group of elderly people came to the stand. They were probably in their mid 70s. Looking at me they realized I was scared and laughed a bit at me and told me not to worry. They eat scorpion every time they come to Beijing. So I thought "if they can do it, so can I". I ordered my skewer of scorpions that were then cooked right in front of my eyes and very hesitantly bit the little pointy tail tip that just a few moments ago contained a deadly poison...it did give me a little thrill. 

It was delicious. It was crunchy and spicy like a mixture of potato chips and shrimp. Sometimes it really pays off to face your fears. They were so delicious that I'm sad we don't eat scorpions in Europe. ;-)