Cambodians eat rats to beat global food crisis

Spicy field rat dishes with garlic increasingly seen on menus as boom in sales increases rodent prices four-fold

• Mark Tran and agencies
• guardian.co.uk,
• Wednesday August 27 2008
  

Floodwaters are driving rats into the hands of hungry Cambodians. Photograph: Press Association

Rat meat has become such a popular alternative to other dearer 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."

He estimated that Cambodia supplied more than a tonne of live rats a day to Vietnam.

Rats have long been eaten in poorer regions of neighbouring Thailand where fast food sellers are enjoying a boom in sales. Vendors say it is tastier than other meats and that rats caught from rice fields are definitely clean compared with those found in towns or cities. The animals are killed by drowning, before being skinned ready for cooking - poached, fried, grilled or baked.

This month, an Indian official said eating rats was a way to beat rising global food prices. Vijay Prakash, the secretary of Bihar's welfare department, said regular rat snacks would also translate into fewer rodents eating precious grain stocks, 50% of which are lost in the north-eastern Indian state every year to the creatures.

Prakash wants to promote consumption of rat meat in homes, street stalls, restaurants and even five-star hotels. He said he was holding talks with prestigious hotels outside India to encourage them to put rat meat on their menus, but admitted his scheme had to overcome public prejudice.

"Some socially deprived people in Bihar have always consumed rat meat. If they can eat rats, why can't the rest of the people?" he said. "This will help in mitigating the global food crisis. We are sure that it will work wonders."