Cambodians eat rats to beat global food crisis

[Coventina]

Source: The Guardian

Rat meat has become such a popular alternative to other dearer (more expensive) meats in Cambodia that its price has increased fourfold.

As inflation pushes the price of beef beyond the reach of the poor, increased demand for rat meat has pushed up rodent prices. A kilogram of rat meat now costs 5,000 riel (69p) compared with 1,200 riel last year. Spicy field rat dishes with garlic are increasingly on the menu as beef costs 20,000 riel a kilo.

Officials said rats were fleeing to higher ground from flooded areas of the lower Mekong Delta, making it easier for villagers to catch them.

"Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the markets, but they keep some for their family," said Ly Marong, an agriculture official. "Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us."



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/cambodia

[n2doc]

1. Oh Noes!

[Ferret Annica]

2. My ferrets love rats.

But if they kill one and I get to it fast enough I take it from them. Pet food for ferrets is much more healthier for them.

[Xipe Totec]

3. Most living things are edible. What we choose to eat is a different matter.

There are French rat dishes

Grilled Rats a la Bordelaise: Alcoholic rats inhabiting wine cellars are skinned and eviscerated, brushed with a thick sauce of olive oil and crushed shallots, and grilled over a fire of broked wine barrels."
- Larousse Gastronomique.

http://www.lawrence.com/blogs/foodways/2003/mar/04/the_french/

And snoppes confirms other cultures serve rats:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/food/rats.asp

[dipsydoodle]

5. You missed out "Rat Au Van"

which uses a rat run over by a van.

All credit to Baldrick in Black Adder Goes Forth for that one amongst others.

Private Baldrick's hobbies include cookery, his specialities include:

Rat au Van (a rat that's been run over by a van),
Filet mignon in Sauce Bearnaise (dog turds covered in glue),
Plum duff (a mole hill decorated in rabbit droppings),
Cream custard (cat's vomit),
Coffee (hot mud), with milk (spit), sugar (dandruff) and rather dubious 'chocolate sprinkles' (rat's droppings) .
Apple crumble which contains fish
More rat; Sauté, which involves:
taking the freshly shaved rat and marinading it in a puddle (When Blackadder asks how long it should be 'marinated' for, the reply is 'till its drowned')
stretching it out under a hot lightbulb
getting within dashing distance of a latrine
scoffing it right down!
Rat fricassé, which is the same as above, but a slightly bigger rat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldrick

This is deja vu. :)

[Xipe Totec]

18. I trust you are all enjoying your food?

No, not actually, Baldrick.

What is this gory thing?

It tastes as if someone with a bad chest cold as taken two spoonfuls of benilin to loosen the phlegm and then coughed all over on an avocado.

Well funny you should say that sir, because...

Yes, alright, Baldrick, yes, thank you.

You may go now.

[dipsydoodle]

21. Exactly

:rofl:

[martymar64]

23. What's for afters?

Rat cake, rat sorbet, rat pudding and strawberry tart?

Strawberry tart?

Well it does have some rat in it.

How much?

Three.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. Doesn't New York City have some really big rats (not the politicians)

but actual huge sewer rats.

I guess if McCain wins the poor in this country could start eating the rats here.

[noonwitch]

12. I've seen some big rats in Detroit.

I saw one that was at least 4 or 5 lbs, scampering down the street one day shortly after the city got rid of the alleys and dumpsters (which ultimately quashed the rat population in my neighborhood). For a few weeks after they closed the alleys and replaced the dumpsters with plastic garbage cans on wheels, the rats were running around looking for a new hiding place, while the city was stepping up it's poison patrol.

People in Detroit with guns will shoot the larger rats. Kids with bb guns shoot at the smaller ones.

[MetaTrope]

6. One wonders if the price of other Cambodian staples like crickets and water beetles is also rising

[undeterred]

7. Some serious questions:

Don't rats carry disease?

Are they nutritious?

Is there anything wrong with this other than we don't want to increase people being bitten by rats?

[Xithras]

8. Probably no disease.

Lots of our impressions of rats (including the belief that they are all diseased) comes from the fact that the only wild rats we usually have contact with are black (roof) rats. They live in urban areas among our filth, and both carry disease and spoil food.

The article says they're eating field rats, which are wild rats that live in the countryside. Disease-wise, eating one is no riskier than eating a wild rabbit.

I have no idea about the nutrition thing. Rats have been widely eaten in some cultures since the dawn of time though, so they can't be THAT unhealthy.

[undeterred]

10. Its funny what strong cultural ideas we have about food.

I lived in central africa for a summer. The Africans thought it was very odd to give food to animals as in white people giving food to pets. Raising a few animals to sacrifice for food later or to get eggs from was ok.

They did not have any qualms about eating an elephant or game animal or any worries about extinction as they were worried about their own survival. And they had no qualms about eating live insects or grubs- things that totally grossed me out. After I thought about these things for a while I came to see their point of view and see how conditioned my own was. I didn't change my behavior- although I did eat wild game- but I can see how all of this depends on how you think about it.

[Xipe Totec]

20. Probably healthier than armadillo

which is a confirmed carrier of leprosy.

And which I've eaten, by the way.

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. So these would be "free range" rats, I guess?

The article says they're eating field rats, which are wild rats that live in the countryside. Disease-wise, eating one is no riskier than eating a wild rabbit.

With all the "free range" thises and "free range" thatsis commanding a premium on the market, I suppose it'll only be a matter of time before some entrepreneur comes up with the idea of capitalizing on that fact.

Not that I have any room to talk, having once been a ravenous consumer of salt sandwiches (which is exactly what it sounds like).

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. They seem small, but with some "Rodent Helper" ...

... the whole family can enjoy the repast.

:hi:

[Fumesucker]

11. I've eaten rodent.. Nutria. Not bad really.

I lived among the Cajuns for a while on a barge in South Louisiana. Nutria are a large, aquatic rodent that lives in and around the marshes and they are fairly popular as game animals for Cajuns.

I've had chicken that was worse.

[Xithras]

22. I had Guinea Pig once.

We had some Ecuadorian neighbors up the street long ago (I was a teenager at the time) who cooked a bunch up to celebrate some Ecuadorian holiday. They invited a bunch of us to their party, and I got to try one.

It tastes like chicken. Seriously.

My daughter, who has a pet guinea pig today, was horrified when I told her that story :)

[earth mom]

13. I think I'm gonna be sick to my stomach...

:puke:

[MaggieSwanson]

14. I don't see why it's any more disgusting

than eating a cow or a pig or a chicken.

:shrug:

[KamaAina]

15. Ratatouille, anyone?

:spank:

[Xipe Totec]

19. Best use of a rat, evah! nt

[AlphaCentauri]

16. As long as it is not toxic, get me a double rat cheese burger

there are more toxic elements in our preserved stock food than in field rats.

[Martinucho]

17. Money for Iraq could be used to help Cambodians

This is another example of how our wasted money that is going to unjustified wars could be used to help those in great need.

[cliffordu]

24. Turn about is fair play -

You're on the menu as far as they're concerned, too.