I never know what to make of a story that capitalizes on what may be viewed as weird/extreme eating by 'exotic' cultures. We're officially in the Year of the Rat and on Wednesday, February 6, the Wall Street Journal had an article on how there's been a resurgence in rat-based dining in Vietnam.
The title of James Hookway's piece is "For Vietnamese, The Year of the Rat Starts with Lunch: Rodent-Eating Takes Off, In Response to Bird Flu;Cats, Snakes on Menu, Too." That's quite a headline, and if you weren't a careful reader, you may think, "Those bizarre, crazy Vietnamese people. They'll eat anything!"
But read further down, past the first paragraph to get the culinary details and rationale for the resurgence of rat cuisine. Hookway's story is quite informative.
That's quite a difference from the LA Times February 6 piece on new dining trends in Orange County's Little Saigon!
For more to ponder, see:
- Half-hatched duck egg posting
- Year of the Rat posting which contains some comments on rat cuisine
Michelle
Happy New Year! It was interesting to learn that they were probably eating grain/snail-fed rats. Ratatouille gourmet field rats, ay? It always does make me a bit nervous when articles say there is a huge trend in rat-eating or whatever...
Andrea Nguyen
Rat cuisine has been around for a while so don't feel so bad!
ninora
Until I watched the cartoon ( http://file.sh/Ratatouille+torrent.html ), I didn't have the slightest idea of the dish! I will surely cook it!
Andrea Nguyen
Thanks for the link Ninora. The veggies for ratatouille are coming into season soon...
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Eat a rat ? no thanks...
Phil
I just got back from Vietnam a month ago. In the city of Can Thou there is a good restaurant with many meat options. I tried the rat and snake on the menu. The rat was delicious and very similar to quail, small crispy with the bones in. The snake was also good, a little rubbery like the chinese mushrooms they were served with.
A Mekong Delta tour will take you to this restaurant and the hotel next to it.
Joffre (J.D.) Meyer (@bohemiotx)
Cool, I really hope to get up the nerve and organization to eat Vietnamese recipe rat. I had a wonderful ESOL class of South Vietnamese refugees in the late '90s Old East Dallas. At least I enjoyed some pigeon--not to mention pho, nuoc mam, Sriracha, anchovy candy, etc.
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