11 replies to this topic

[Simbi Laveau]

http://www.bangkokpo...illions-b-pix-b

Grilled rat is the new trending food in Thailand .
One woman makes 1,000,000 baht a year selling them from a roadside stand .No small feat in Thailand's enconomy .Especially outside of Bangkok
1 million baht is about 34,000 USD .That's rolling in bucks in Thailand's outskirts .

Rat has become a very popular snack,in recent years .


My question is ,where do they get their inventory .....

[QuiteContrary]

Oh, Simbi, I was just contemplating what to have for lunch. I am contemplating no more!

Nothing, as I am suddenly nauseous...

I wonder where she gets her supply too. Aren't rats full of diseases?

[Simbi Laveau]

QuiteContrary, on 26 January 2013 - 08:53 PM, said:

Oh, Simbi, I was just contemplating what to have for lunch. I am contemplating no more!

Nothing, as I am suddenly nauseous...

I wonder where she gets her supply too. Aren't rats full of diseases?

Depends .They are carriers for many things .
Black plague ,rabies ,and hanta virus included .We seem to only see this in the west though ,and it seems she gets a lot of repeat business,so I guess no one has died  ..
Lol

[lsra]

I'm all for trying new foods, but rat?  Nope. Don't think so.

[spud the mackem]

They also have fried insects on sticks like a kebab, very crunchie I believe,but I  never tried it. These Thai guys will eat anything including snake and dog. (And maybe you if they get the chance ,ha ha).

[and then]

I grew up eating both fried squirrel and squirrel broiled and covered in a brown gravy over rice.  Of course, as a child I did not know that they were essentially furry rats that lived in trees     When cooked properly they are actually quite good but they do not as far as I know carry disease AND they don't scavenge in filth.  They eat nuts and berries and seeds.  While I would not knowingly eat rat unless actually starving, I can understand the popularity IF it tastes like squirrel!

[Simbi Laveau]

and then, on 26 January 2013 - 10:55 PM, said:

I grew up eating both fried squirrel and squirrel broiled and covered in a brown gravy over rice.  Of course, as a child I did not know that they were essentially furry rats that lived in trees     When cooked properly they are actually quite good but they do not as far as I know carry disease AND they don't scavenge in filth.  They eat nuts and berries and seeds.  While I would not knowingly eat rat unless actually starving, I can understand the popularity IF it tastes like squirrel!

Ummm,where did you grow up again ?

[and then]

Simbi Laveau, on 26 January 2013 - 11:33 PM, said:

Ummm,where did you grow up again ?

The port city of the state of Alabama -Mobile.  But country folk all over the southern US have eaten squirrel for many decades.  The meat is not unclean at all.  What determines whether an animal is clean or not is not it's pedigree, but it's diet.  Ground and tree squirrels forage for a living.  They never bother a garbage can or eat from trash dumps.  They eat acorns and pecans, seeds and berries - just like deer.  So they, though related to a rat, are not disease carrying vermin.  They are prone to parasite infections in summer months and so are not hunted except in cold weather.  Simbi, poor people in the south many years ago made due with whatever they could to keep them alive.  I have a step dad who is 91 and actually worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps that Roosevelt began in the '30s and he laughingly says that when he was a boy his dad would kill a hog and the family would eat or use everything but the "squeal"    But these days not so many partake of squirrel anymore.  Not because it's nasty but because food is plentiful and relatively cheap.  My guess is that if the economy crashes to the extent some say it will, then squirrel might be back on the menu for a lot of folks - and they'll feel lucky to have it.  BTW - it does NOT taste like chicken   It's a dark meat and a bit tough if not could properly but it's delicious in my humble opinion.

[libstaK]

The vast majority of diseases do not survive the cooking process.  Also, pork/pigs are known for eating just about anything and attract parasites and diseases aplenty.  It all comes down to the cooking process killing off micro-organisms.

I would not eat rat but then I don't eat pork either, because I don't need to for survival and the idea makes me gag.

For those who need protein and don't have a fair choice, I don't begrudge them doing so and can't help thinking it is a fair means of controlling the rat population.

[Ryu]

Meh...probably ends up tasting like chicken anyways. EVERYTHING tastes like chicken these days.

[Michelle]

I would have thought it would be a good way to curb the rat population in New York, Simbi.

[Simbi Laveau]

Michelle, on 27 January 2013 - 03:31 AM, said:

I would have thought it would be a good way to curb the rat population in New York, Simbi.

True ,but I don't think we have a big enough Thai population to sell em all out .
I don't think even the Koreans,will touch rat ,but I could be wrong .