Have you ever wondered if you can eat rats? No, if we are talking about an extreme situation, when the price of an action is survival, then this is not discussed. In such circumstances, eat anything. But in normal circumstances, most of us would probably refuse such a treat. This is explained simply, because the rat is considered one of the most vile and disgusting animals and it is very difficult to imagine it at ease.
Meanwhile, in the eyes of the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, this rodent is a completely normal food. Moreover, recently restaurants with corresponding exotic menus have appeared in some European countries. So it is quite possible that very soon we will see rat carcasses in the meat departments of our stores.
Culinary history of the rat
It must be said that the use of rats as a food product is not just a tribute to fashion or a passion for exoticism. Everything new, as we know, is well-forgotten old, and if most modern Europeans are disgusted by the mention of these rodents, then their ancestors used rat meat with great pleasure, for which there is a lot of reliable evidence.
For example, the residents of France have never been faced with the question of whether they can eat rats. The tradition of eating rats existed here already in the 19th century. They were fried over an open fire with the addition of shallots. Meat prepared in this way was considered an irreplaceable source of protein, and in the menu of the world-famous Parisian chef of that era, Thomas Genen, rat dishes occupied first place. In Medieval China, during Marco Polo’s visit to this country, rats were considered a delicacy and only came to the table of noble people.
Digging into the sources, you can find a lot of examples of voluntary eating of rats in circumstances that did not encourage this at all. True, over time, European civilization took a different path and abandoned such a diet. But in Asia, rats are still actively used in cooking and in some countries they are even considered a strategic food resource.
Warning, danger
Those lovers of thrills and exotic dishes who are seriously thinking about cooking a rat would do well to remind you that These rodents are active carriers of infectious diseases. Thus, it was the black rat, according to researchers, that in the 13th century provoked an outbreak of bubonic plague, which claimed the lives of 25 million people - the population of medieval Europe decreased by a quarter as a result of that epidemic. Today it is reliably known that rats are the source of 20 of the most dangerous diseases, for example, typhoid or Lassa fever.
Supporters of eating rat meat have their own counter-arguments to this. The point is that The danger of infection comes mainly from urban rats. These rodents mostly live in garbage dumps, feed on waste and often come into contact with sources of all kinds of infection. Therefore, it is better to immediately abandon the idea of eating such a rat once and for all.
In the countries of Southeast Asia and Oceania, cooks use special rats that are caught in rice fields, where they live in dams near the water and eat organic foods. If we are talking about special restaurants that serve dishes made from rat meat, then the meat is supplied to them from special farms where rodents are raised in compliance with all necessary sanitary standards. So the risk of infection in this case is close to zero.
Traditions of rat cooking
So, with regard to whether it is possible to eat rats, everything is clear - the answer is yes. But what is the best way to prepare this unusual product in order to fully experience its taste? There are many ways. Most often, rats are, of course, roasted over an open fire. This heat treatment additionally disinfects the meat and serves as protection against all kinds of infections. In Latin America, for example, charcoal-roasted rats are served with chili sauce and are considered a delicacy.
You can also deep-fry rats, as cooks from Southeast Asia do. But experts recommend choosing younger individuals for such recipes, since the meat of adult rodents in this case turns out to be tough. In China, it is customary to boil rats. Particularly popular among local gourmets are noodles made from rat meat broth with the addition of various oriental spices: curry, turmeric, garlic, etc.
There are rats that run through landfills and garbage cans, there are rats that scare passers-by in tunnels and entrances on a dark night, and there are rats that save human lives. To teach one such animal its trade, 6,000 euros are spent. So what can these rodents do after such expensive training?
Belgian organization APOPO, which develops products for the detection of anti-personnel mines. Such means can be special mine detectors with a probe controlled by a person; these may be trained dogs that can respond to the smell of explosives. However, Gambian pouched rats have proven to be the most effective in detecting mines. They are small enough that the mine will not explode, even if the animal fully stands on it, they can smell explosives perfectly, and 7-month training of one rodent costs three times less than similar training of a dog.
The Gambian rat training program began in 1997, then in Belgium, and now continues in Mozambique. These huge rodents are called nothing less than “hero rats.” A trained rat can search for mines in 20 minutes an area of about 200 square meters, which would take a human 25 hours of work.
On average, there were 9 accidents every day worldwide in 2013 related to the detonation of anti-personnel mines. Each trained rat like this can save thousands of lives. It itself does not explode, since mines usually react to a weight of more than 5 kg, and a one and a half kilogram animal can easily stand directly on the explosive device itself. If an animal falls ill during its service, it is provided with medical care, including surgical operations. After 4-5 years, the rats retire to a well-deserved retirement to eat bananas and run through the fields without any special task.
brave dogs worked day and night together with firefighters and rescuers, they made their way through the rubble, looking for victims.
If you go to bed leaving something edible on the table or floor, rats may visit you without invitation. One glance at a rodent with a bald tail is enough to make you feel disgusted and start writing complaints to the housing office. But these gray guests are not despised everywhere.
In some parts of the world, rats are considered a delicious delicacy.
Why do we dislike rats so much? Perhaps the genetic memory of the rodents who spread the bubonic plague, which nearly caused the whole of Europe to die out in the Middle Ages, is affecting us? And to this day, rats carry many deadly diseases, and nothing affects these smartest creatures of nature. Or we are afraid of their sharp teeth that bite through metal: after all, rats often attack people.
If we abstract ourselves a little, distract ourselves from the feeling of disgust at the thought of the ubiquitous rodent (hardly any of us, while eating aromatic fried chicken breasts with appetite, reproduce the image of a laying hen in our minds), rat meat is no worse than chicken, even tastier and certainly more nutritious (for a normal person). Animals consume a large amount of proteins during their vital functions. For millions of Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodians, this is not a gourmet dish, but healthy food peasant provinces. In addition, eating such foods is a good way to fight rodents.
Fried or stewed rats have been one of the popular dishes of Southeast Asia since ancient times. Rodents became strategically valuable cargo on ships lost in the sea: when food ran out, sailors often switched to the animals living in the holds. They do not disdain rat meat even overseas. Traditionally, it has been eaten for many centuries in Central and South America: even in those countries where the government has officially banned this meat, thrifty peasants continue to add variety to their diet in this way. In our difficult times of bird flu, these dishes have become an excellent alternative to chicken dishes.
Today, it has been established that rats are carriers of at least twenty diseases, including typhus, trichinosis and Lassa fever. It is not surprising that in the Guinness Book of Records these animals are characterized as the most dangerous rodents. Nevertheless, there are rats and mice that are not difficult to catch and can be eaten without fear; moreover, many people eat them not only in difficult times, but also every day, and even as a delicacy.
And they have been eating for thousands of years. IN Ancient Rome Dormouses kept in cages were stuffed with nuts until they became fat enough to meet the emperor's demands. These animals, whose body length (without tail) reaches 20 centimeters, were so popular that they were bred in spacious enclosures and supplied to Roman soldiers in Britain.
In imperial China, the rat was called a domestic deer, and a dish made from its meat was considered a particularly delicious treat. Marco Polo wrote that the Tatars eat rats in the summer months, when there are especially many of them. In Columbus's day, when a ship's provisions were dwindling due to unforeseen delays on its way across the oceans, the rat catcher became a vital member of the crew, highly paid, and rats, generally perceived as pests, became a valuable source of protein.
In the 19th century in France, many residents of the province of Bordeaux traditionally feasted on rats fried over an open fire with shallots, and Thomas Genen, a famous chef and organizer of the first culinary competition in the province, held in the 80s of the 19th century, considered rat meat a first-class product. When the French capital was surrounded by the enemy during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, black and gray rat meat appeared on the menu of Parisians.
Henry David Thoreau is credited with saying that he liked spiced fried rats, although some argue that the writer was talking about muskrats, which probably lived near Walden. During the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong viewed rats as an important food resource. Not so long ago, Gordon Liddy, one of the initiators of the Watergate scandal, stated that he ate rats prepared in the truly American way, that is, fried, although many are sure that he did this only to demonstrate his courage.
Today, throughout large parts of Latin America and Asia, as well as in certain regions of Africa and Oceania, rat meat is still both a common snack and main dish. In some areas of China, there are popular restaurants that cook rat in dozens of ways.
In the Philippines, peasants hunt field mice and rats with machetes and flamethrowers, in Taiwan - with traps, nets and with the help of dogs. In countries from Peru to Ghana, rats and mice are perceived as an important source of animal protein. Even in the US there are commercial suppliers of both. A company called Gourmet Rodent (literally, “Gourmet Rodent”) ships skinned and frozen carcasses to customers via UPS and Express Mail, and live animals via Delta Air Freight cargo planes to the recipient’s airport.
Every year on March 7, in a remote village in northeastern India, the Adi tribe celebrates Uning Aran. unusual holiday, whose culinary highlight is rats. One of Adi's favorite dishes is a roast called bul-bulak oing. It is prepared from rat offal, which is boiled together with tails and paws, adding a little salt, chili pepper and ginger.
This community welcomes rodents of all types, from the domestic rats commonly found in the home to wild species found in the woods. Rat tails and paws are considered particularly tasty, said Victor Benno Mayer-Rochow of the University of Oulu in Finland, who spoke with some members of the Adi tribe as part of his research on rats as a food source.
According to Mayer-Rochow, Adi consider rodent meat to be the most delicious and tender meat imaginable.
They say: “There is no holiday without rats. Honoring an important guest or relative, a feast on a special occasion, all this is possible only if there are rats on the table.”
Depending on the number of traps, on a good day one rat hunter can catch between 30 and 100 rats.
Rats are valued here for much more than just food. "Rat gifts are given to the bride's relatives to make them happy to see her leave her family for her husband's family," Mayer-Rochow says. On the first morning of the Uning-Uran holiday, called Aman-ro, children receive two dead rats as a gift and rejoice at them the same way European children enjoy toys at Christmas.
It is not known for certain how Adi developed such a passion for rats, but Mayer-Rochow is sure that this is a long-standing tradition, and it did not appear due to a lack of other food. Many animals - deer, goats and buffaloes - roam the forests surrounding the village. However, these tribes prefer rats. “They assured me that nothing compares to a rat,” he states.
Even as a vegetarian, Mayer-Rochow dared to try the notorious meat, and found that it resembled other types of meat he had tried before, if not for the smell. “This smell revived memories of the first student laboratories at the Faculty of Zoology, where rats were dissected to study the anatomy of vertebrates,” the researcher shares his impressions.
These rats were fried whole, lightly dipped in hot sauce and eaten whole, with a side dish of cassava puree.
Rats are not only served for dinner in this remote corner of India. British TV presenter Stephen Gates traveled the world studying unusual food sources from different people. Not far from Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, he came across a farm of cane rats, a breed he described as "Like little dogs, vicious, angry little animals." Vicious, but delicious. Gates says these rats require special care, which makes them more expensive than chicken or vegetables.
And what do they taste like? "It was the best meat I've ever tasted in my life," Gates said. He recalls that the meat was stewed with tomatoes and describes it as: “A little like pork, but very tender, like a slow-cooked pork shoulder.” Unusually tender, soft and tasty, the roast was “very meaty, juicy and with a pleasant layer of fat that melted in your mouth.”
In the Indian state of Bihar, Gates spent time among the Dalits, one of the poorest castes in India. Other residents called these people “rat eaters.” Dalits tended the crops of richer landowners of different castes in exchange for the right to eat the rats that harmed the fields.
One of the main breeds of rodents eaten in eastern and western Africa is the small cane rat, which can weigh more than 6 kg.
According to Gates, these small rats were very tender and tasted like small chicken or quail. The only unpleasant moment was the smell of burnt fur - to avoid losing even a small piece of skin, tiny animals are scorched on fire, burning the fur. And that creates a "horrible, terrible smell," Gates says, "and a bitter taste on the skin." But everything inside is very tasty. “The meat and skin inside were absolutely delicious,” he recalls.
Delicious rats around the world Man's love for rodents dates back many centuries ago. According to a scientific study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, rats were eaten in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) and were called "domestic deer." A special dish of the Tang Dynasty was newborn baby rats stuffed with honey. “They are easy to grasp with chopsticks,” the authors report.
Until 200 years ago, the Polynesian rat or Rattus exulans, a close relative of the common domestic rat, was eaten by many Polynesians, including New Zealand's Maori. "In pre-European times, the South Island of New Zealand was a major source of Polynesian rats, which were preserved and eaten in large quantities, usually at the start of winter," says Jim Williams, a researcher at New Zealand's University of Otago.
This woman sells freshly fried field rats on the side of a highway north of Bangkok, Thailand.
According to the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the Polynesian rat was considered a delicacy served to guests and was even used as currency exchanged at important ceremonies such as weddings.
Rats are regularly eaten in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana, China and Vietnam, says Grant Singleton of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.
Singleton claims he tasted rat meat at least six times in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. And what does it taste like? “As for the field rat, I would say it is a flavorful meat that tastes like rabbit,” he says.
Singleton also mentions the consumption of rats in the upper lands of Laos and the lower delta of Myanmar. He says that in Laos, farmers from the northern upper lands can distinguish at least five species of rodents by their taste.
A man prepares to eat a wild rat caught nearby in Morrumballa, Zambezia Province, Mozambique.
Some African communities have a long tradition of eating rats. In Nigeria, for example, all ethnic groups prefer the African giant rat, says Mojisola Oyarekuah of Ifaki-Ekiti University of Science and Technology in Nigeria. “It is considered a special delicacy and costs more than a piece of fish or beef of the same weight. This meat is delicious in any form - fried, dried or boiled,” he says.
Rat meat can easily be tasted in restaurants in Hanoi, Vietnam. It has been considered a delicacy in the south of the country for many years. For local farmers, rat hunting is a good opportunity to earn extra money. The most productive season for rat hunting in the Mekong Delta is the flood season, when rats crawl out of their holes to escape the water. One kilogram of rat meat costs 100,000 dong or $5 dollars.
Previously, rat meat was popular among peasants living in the south of Vietnam, in the Red River and Mekong Delta, but now the boom in “rat eating” has spread to other regions.
So why do people eat rats? Simple necessity? Having tasted rat meat in different corners planet, Gates believes that people do this voluntarily rather than being forced by lack of food.
You just don’t know how to cook them! It’s interesting that the Chinese themselves don’t like to openly admit their liking for rats. They seem to feel guilty before us, Europeans, for their unconventional culinary preferences. But when you see their eyes light up at the memory of their native dishes, you understand: many of them even now would not mind trying something from rat meat.
And therefore, for the culinary secrets of cooking rats, you need to turn to the Chinese, to their oriental recipes, as the oldest: scientists believe that rats settled throughout the world precisely from the territory of the Celestial Empire.
Rat meat is prepared in the same way as any other meat. Somewhat adapted to our conditions, it looks like this: the carcass needs to be cut, and then - complete freedom of imagination. The most common way: cook a little (10-15 minutes), and then you can stew with various roots, in aromatic sauces, fry in a hot frying pan, make a shish kebab, or immediately add vegetables during cooking and prepare a delicious (according to the Chinese reviews) soup. Baby rats are especially popular: they are cooked whole and eaten with bones, dipped in traditional oriental sauces. You can serve rice or potatoes as a side dish - you need to follow the style of simple peasant food.
Deep-fried rats Gut the carcasses of four adult rats, remove the heads and tails. Prepare the marinade by mixing 2 tbsp. l. vinegar, 1 tbsp. l. lemon juice, finely chopped quarter of an onion, dill, cilantro, basil, salt and pepper, you can add 1 tbsp. l. cognac Marinate the carcasses for 6-8 hours. Fry in boiling water vegetable oil about 10 minutes until crispy. It is recommended to serve this dish with the Austrian Grüner Veltliner wine from Weinviertel.
In China they say that you can eat everything that flies, except airplanes, and everything that floats, except submarines :)/>Although...somewhere (I don’t remember in which country) they say that you can eat ANYTHING!
And today I came across an article in a magazine - in continuation of the topic.
About mice and rats.
If you think that rats and mice were eaten only in besieged Leningrad, then you are mistaken. Rich Japan and quite prosperous China still eat them today. This behavior is dictated not by necessity, but by the desire to have fun. The Chinese are sure that newborn mice are delicious. They say that the meat of the mice is bitter and spicy, similar to European game. True, the way they are prepared makes us Europeans speechless.
This is a kind of “fondue a la mouse”. A candle, a Chinese samovar with boiling water and a cage with live three-day old mice appear on the table. They are placed in a deep dish with high edges so that they do not escape. And then they eat. They take a living and squeaking mouse by the tail, singe the fur over a candle, dip it in boiling water for a minute, then dip it in the sauce and into the mouth. They are eaten whole, with the head, paws and bones. But the ponytail is thrown over the left shoulder - according to legend, it drives away troubles.
(I felt sick from this recipe. I definitely wouldn’t be able to put a living creature in boiling water. It’s cruel...)
At least a hundred guests come to the Fu Huyayou restaurant near Canton every day for rat meat. Most often they order “rat in a pot” or whole fried rat, rat pilaf, rat soup and dried rodent. Regular clients claim. that this juicy red meat is similar to rabbit or pork, only brighter and more interesting in taste. At the same time, they are confident in his beneficial properties: It prevents baldness and promotes hair growth. It is not for nothing that more than half of the regular guests, according to the restaurant owner, are bald.
Hairy delicacy
In Peru, “kuy” (that’s what Peruvians call guinea pig, which is indecent to our Russian ears) has been eaten everywhere for almost thousands of years. Today, more than 90% of rural residents of Peru keep these animals on their farms - but not as pets, but for food. Guinea pigs reproduce extremely quickly, producing up to 10 babies per year. Thus, a successful farmer manages to get up to 40 kg of meat per year. According to statistics, up to 66 million cuya carcasses are eaten annually in Peru. It is best to try “cuy” in restaurants in the provinces, for example in Puno or Cusco. There is a chance to get the freshest meat, which was running in the courtyard of the establishment half an hour ago.
Guinea pigs are boiled, fried and stewed. What Peruvians love most is this dish: a whole roasted, splayed guinea pig with menacingly protruding teeth and a delicious crispy crust. They eat them with their hands because the crust doesn't cut well. Local residents eat the whole carcass, and even - to the horror of tourists - with the head. Pig meat is very nutritious, low in cholesterol and fat, and cheap - one pig costs about $8.
Well, for a snack - Royal rotten meat!
In China they are called “imperial” and are considered a very valuable and refined food. The process of preparing a rotten egg is very long and labor-intensive. For several months, the eggs are kept in a special saline solution with the addition of wood ash and lime. Then they are placed in clay mixed with sesame seeds and, as it were, “marinated” in it for some more time. During this time, the shell becomes a pure sky blue hue. The upper part is removed (usually this is done by the seller; these are the rules so that the buyer can verify the correct rotten “quality” of the product) - and a black, dense jelly-like white is discovered, and underneath it is a greenish yolk. This mass, similar to a fatty soufflé or jelly, tastes a little like dried fish with a smell: sharp, fragrant, pungent, slightly oily. The Chinese are delighted, the Europeans are horrified. The difference in cultures cannot be helped.
The coming year will be, as you know, the year of the Rat. As if for a holiday, rat meat dishes have recently reappeared in Chinese restaurants. The interruption in the supply of rat meat to catering establishments was associated with the SARS epidemic. What is good for the Chinese is also suitable for the Russian, we decided and studied the symbol of the coming 2008 from a gastronomic point of view. Where to eat rat meat in Moscow, where you can buy rat meat, and what is the best dish of rat meat to decorate with New Year's table- Nastya Gvendyaeva found out all this...
What Moscow restaurants don't have
“You need to try this!” I decided and got ready to go to the restaurant. It turned out that it is impossible to find dishes made from rat meat in Moscow restaurants. Even the most nationally authentic ones that claim originality and originality. Having called a couple of dozen catering establishments, I greatly amused the employees: “Rats? No! We don’t serve this kind of thing!”
“Why don’t you want a pickled rabbit? A good Chinese rabbit,” the cook of another Chinese restaurant convinced me with a Caucasian accent.
“This is not profitable,” explains the manager of another establishment, “there is no expected demand for such a product. Of course, now in Moscow they will cook any exotic food for a lot of money, but will it really be a rat?”
While calling restaurants, I was offered beef, pork, lamb in intricate sauces, as the most original specialty - frog legs, but not rats.
An unrecognized delicacy
Why do we dislike rats so much? Perhaps the genetic memory of the rodents who spread the bubonic plague, which nearly caused the whole of Europe to die out in the Middle Ages, is affecting us? And to this day, rats carry many deadly diseases, and nothing affects these smartest creatures of nature. Or we are afraid of their sharp teeth that bite through metal: after all, rats often attack people.
If we abstract ourselves a little, distract ourselves from the feeling of disgust at the thought of the ubiquitous rodent (hardly any of us, while eating aromatic fried chicken breasts with appetite, reproduce the image of a laying hen in our minds), rat meat is no worse than chicken, even tastier and certainly more nutritious (for a normal person). Animals consume a large amount of proteins during their vital functions. For millions of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cambodians, this is not a gourmet dish, but healthy food from peasant provinces. In addition, eating such foods is a good way to fight rodents.
Fried or stewed rats have been one of the popular dishes of Southeast Asia since ancient times. Rodents became strategically valuable cargo on ships lost in the sea: when food ran out, sailors often switched to the animals living in the holds. They do not disdain rat meat even overseas. Traditionally, it has been eaten for many centuries in Central and South America: even in those countries where the government has officially banned this meat, thrifty peasants continue to add variety to their diet in this way. In our difficult times of bird flu, these dishes have become an excellent alternative to chicken dishes.
You just don't know how to cook them!
Interestingly, the Chinese themselves do not like to openly admit their liking for rats. They seem to feel guilty before us, Europeans, for their unconventional culinary preferences. But when you see their eyes light up at the memory of their native dishes, you understand: many of them even now would not mind trying something from rat meat.
And therefore, for the culinary secrets of cooking rats, I decided to turn specifically to the Chinese, to their oriental recipes, as the most ancient: scientists believe that rats settled throughout the world precisely from the territory of the Celestial Empire.
Rat meat is prepared in the same way as any other meat. Somewhat adapted to our conditions, it looks like this: the carcass needs to be cut, and then - complete freedom of imagination. The most common way: cook a little (10-15 minutes), and then you can stew with various roots, in aromatic sauces, fry in a hot frying pan, make a shish kebab, or immediately add vegetables during cooking and prepare a delicious (according to the reviews of my Chinese friends) soup. Baby rats are especially popular: they are cooked whole and eaten with bones, dipped in traditional oriental sauces. You can serve rice or potatoes as a side dish - you need to follow the style of simple peasant food.
Deep fried rats
Gut the carcasses of four adult rats, remove heads and tails. Prepare the marinade by mixing 2 tbsp. l. vinegar, 1 tbsp. l. lemon juice, finely chopped quarter of an onion, dill, cilantro, basil, salt and pepper, you can add 1 tbsp. l. cognac Marinate the carcasses for 6-8 hours. Fry in boiling vegetable oil for about 10 minutes until crispy. It is recommended to serve this dish with the Austrian Grüner Veltliner wine from Weinviertel.
Looking for a rat
Unfortunately, it is difficult for us, residents of Russia, to join the Asian culinary experience. It looks like you'll have to go to China to get scarce meat. Not only are Moscow restaurateurs hesitant to rely on fried pasyuk, but preparing this delicacy of oriental cuisine yourself is very problematic. Hordes of nimble, long-tailed predators living in any of the basements of apartment buildings, traveling through sewers and working in city landfills are not suitable for cooking for obvious reasons. Firstly, they can carry any disease, and secondly, it is not known what poisons they were poisoned with: as a rule, to combat by no means safe animals, strong toxic substances are used that standard heat treatment cannot destroy. Another thing is the healthy Chinese-Taiwanese-Vietnamese rats living in rice fields and eating organic grains.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to get such a product in our capital. Rumor has it that in the distant dead ends of the labyrinth of the Izmailovsky market you can also find something less exotic. However, buyers there are unlikely to be presented with a hygiene certificate. Just don’t confuse rats with nutria, the meat of which is abundant in Moscow. There is, of course, another option. Quite healthy rats are sold in pet stores. Feed her with cereals for six months and... leave her to live at home: perhaps the symbol of the year, tamed, grown fat, and escaped the gastronomic fate prepared for it, will bring good luck!
