Rat Meat Prices Quadruple  

Posted by Big Gav in ,

It was only a couple of days ago that I was talking about eating rats but I was still surprised to see this Reuters report on Cambodian rat meat prices - Rat meat in demand in Cambodia as inflation bites. I wonder how the fried spider market is going ?

The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday.

With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel (69 pence) from 1,200 riel last year. Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kg.

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," Ly Marong, an agriculture official, said by telephone from the Koh Thom district on the border with Vietnam. "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.

3 comments

You know, it's only a short evolutionary step from the arachnid to the crab and crayfish. Mock if you like, but please keep eating those crabs and crayfish... they are absolutely delicious. ;-)

I wasn't really mocking the practice - I find the whole spider / centipede etc diet kind of amazing - a testament to the versatility of people.

Field rats are largely vegetarian in diet with maybe a few crickets and scorpions in there to plump them up. As such the meat should be as good as rabbit or squirrel.

Here in the US I'm making sure that my pigeon poaching file is kept updated. Since I'm in a small city in the midst of farmland the pigeons are plump and clean.

Just stay away from that urban roof meat and you'll be fine.

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