Rat Meat Rises in Popularity as Inflation Hits Locals
Rats… To many rats are a disgusting creature that we cannot wait to have killed or removed.
However in Cambodia, no rat is left to waste… especially not when inflation has increased the cost of meat almost double in the last year.
Many Cambodians already believed rat meat to be a great source of protein and a tasty little snack when gathered together drinking, but the popularity of the meat really began to increase when beef hit around $10 a pound.
At around $2.50 a pound, rat meat favorites like the garlic-flavored field rat have quickly replaced the standard beef dishes.
“Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us.” said an agricultural official from Koh Thom.
Not only have the locals saved money by eating more rat meat, they have also been able to earn more money by catching rats and making them table-ready.
By Mtsang on 03-09-2008
Comment by armando
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
$2.50/lb sounds quite steep for Cambodia. Must be mistake.
Comment by Debbie
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I think so too, does anything cost 10.00 in cambodia? When they speak of feild mice I think rabies, maybe they can have farm raised rats, give them some of that stuff perdue uses to produce 15lb. chickens.
Comment by Joshua
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Have these dumb-asses ever heard of the Black Plague? Their all gonna die…
Comment by darkwing duck
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
with all the rat’s in new york I will be rich
Comment by Infogleaner
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:37 pm
ummm…perhaps it’s time for that vegetarian diet…
Comment by Gee-Man
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Uh, the Black Plague was a BACTERIAL based disease carried by fleas. Any trace of the bacteria would have been destroyed as long as the meat was cooked at a high enough temperature.
Lack of basic pathogenic knowledge=fail
Comment by Thomas
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
If you turn vegetarian then there’s no more vegies then what now? jk i understand but i believe a mixture of both meat / vegie helps
Comment by groping_grape
September 4th, 2008 at 2:08 am
insects are way better than those dirty,creepy,small moving piece of meat
Comment by Gabriel
September 4th, 2008 at 2:23 am
If you cook the food for long enough in hot boiling water (or on open fire) most of the bacteria and viruses will die, or will be so weakend that they can not survive the attack of your imune system.
Comment by Kristian
September 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Small Island Nation = No room to raise Large amounts of Cattle.
Also if they meant 10 Cambodian Riel = 0.002481 US Dollar
or what dollar they are comparing to.
Even if the numbers are off it is just a demonstration of the cost difference between the 2 meats (i.e. RAT meat trades for 1 bucket of mud, and Beef Trades for 4 Buckets of mud)
Comment by emfajar
September 4th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
yeughhh its so disgusting..
Comment by Harold
September 4th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
It’s not an island nation. It’s surrounded on three sides by other countries. And they generally use the American dollar as their currency because their own is too unstable and worthless.
Comment by George
September 4th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I guess these people are overjoyed that they “defeated” the US in the region so that they can now enjoy fine dining ! Leave it to the leftists to liberate the people !
Comment by Roger
September 5th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do…
Comment by Acara
September 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
How is this more disgusting than any other meat?
It’s unusual and weird for sure, but Disgusting?
Comment by O'Neil
September 5th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Holy crap those are huge rats in the first pic they’re almost the size of small dogs.
Still as gross as it sounds it’s a cheap and nearly inexhaustible protein source since rats breed and mature so quickly and likely an idea solution for them.
Les Stroud off survivor man eats rodents on half the episodes.
Comment by Mikaya
September 6th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Considering Cambodia’s education system, especially for the low income demographic, I would warrant no. No, they haven’t heard of the Black Plague.
Comment by Mikaya
September 6th, 2008 at 4:36 am
Guessing the large rat thing is due to a little thing called camera angles, and how they seem to be cut flat when grilled.
Comment by Jane
September 6th, 2008 at 8:58 am
This article is misleading. The rat they eat are field rat, which eat grain and veggie in the field, not sewage rat so they are not dirty and edible. I have tried them before and they are not bad at all. Probably cleaner and tastier than the battery caged chicken that people from developed countries normally eat
Comment by Heru
September 7th, 2008 at 3:30 am
Oh, really? I’m not enough shy to this fact…Because in my country, not to bad with they problem…
Comment by chuz
September 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
que feo …so difficult this life
Comment by reyda
September 9th, 2008 at 2:51 am
no, you are mistaken, you must have forgotten that real commies would eat their own children. Like they told you in the propaganda. (-_-)
Comment by HoneyDewMe
September 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I’m cambodian, and believe me, cambodians eat EVERYTHING. Fried tarantulas, maggots, cochroaches, you name it. Anything that is edible is considered food in Cambodia.
Comment by mad
September 10th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
you can’t get black plague by eating it dumb ass
Comment by Lillian
September 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hey, I’m Cantonese. You know, maybe we should get married and form a buffet.
Comment by ular
September 15th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Actually, i felt for those people. Don’t you think they would have want to eat beef or something better if they get to choose?
Yes you guys from rich countries are born with nothing to worry about, everything is ready for you. You can easily get good food anywhere, good education..good life and then starts to wonder ” wow..this dumbasses are dumbasses trying to eat rats …ewwww “
Comment by goodone
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
^LOL
Comment by Indra
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:14 am
Hi Jane
It want to know how it taste?
Is it red or white meat?
Comment by Spike
October 5th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I imagine that they could be quite tasty. I’m not so sure about plain old grilled (broiled?) ones, but I’m sure that stewed or casseroled, maybe stirfried.
Perhaps boiled first, then the meat can be stripped from the bones & shredded, spices added & cooked, tossed through some delicious vegetables = Rat Salad.
Comment by Ricky Chan
October 24th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Hey, I’m Hainanese. You know, if your marriage with him doesn’t work, you have me waiting for you so we can form another better buffet.
Comment by Adam
October 30th, 2008 at 7:16 am
In some south american countries with a higher GDP than Cambodia they have rodents as a regular part of their diet. Conversely in some countries the thought of eating a cow would horrify.
Comment by susan
February 24th, 2009 at 5:08 am
just catch one and eat