Nothing makes more sense to me than eating whatever's prevalent in the area you're in. Turkey, duck, rabbit, deer, pig & cow.. People eat them mostly because they're there. When you live in upcountry North-Eastern Thailand, you have to settle for smaller game, such as the Asian field rodent, more commonly known as 'rat'. Excellent.

Western expats are known to appreciate beef steaks flown in for example from New Zealand. The cows are happier and healthier there, you can taste the difference. When you're a Thai-Khmer expat in Chiang Mai, of course you get your rats flown in.

On the picture here you see three of them, prior to being put on the BBQ. They're fresh out of the box, shipped by air to Chiang Mai (CNX) Airport.

"Surely Chiang Mai also has rats?", I asked, foolishly, but this was met with disgusted looks all around. They have to be fresh, healthy and happy rats from their native province of Surin.

Do they taste good?

Makes sense to me .

I think i'll take a pass on those

They taste like chicken.

Seriously! Barbequed rat tastes like really bad, almost rotting, chicken.

Really bad rotting chicken??? I would have thought once cooked properly they would just taste like chicken?

I feel strange asking this but what are they served with? Sauces, flavourings etc?

(Ican't believe I just asked a question on how to cook rat!)

Wait until I give you the link to a site that shows how to prepare dog.

I won't do it because I KNOW it will offend people and very likely make people sick in the stomach. On a logical level it of course makes no sense whatsoever to object to eating dogs while having no problem with a hamburger.

Still, if anyone is interested then i will include the link, but not clickable to give everyone time to consider if they want to see it or not.

Dog lovers (as in the live, pet kind) will not want to paste this link in their browser. Quite likely dog lovers (as in the food kind) will ALSO not want to open it because it will definitley put you off your noodles.

w w w.flickr.com/photos/loupiote/sets/1652923/

(remove the spaces between w w w)

(Note that it does not show killing the dog, just the butchering and food preparation process. Keep in mind that a similar set of pics of butchering a cow, pig or sheep is just as gruelling)

Back to rats. Proper rice-field rats taste quite mild, similar to chicken. Those from more interesting surroundings have a much stronger, less palateable flavour.

Further to the above, I collect interesting recipes - The ones you might NOT like to prepare. If anybody has any, I would be most grateful for a PM or email.

I have a nice - nasty - one for cat. But that can wait for another day.

Howdy Everyone,

I always find it interesting when people say "YUK"to something that they have never tried.People throughout the world eat many different things.It all depends on what is availble to eat in the area.In a part of Africa people eat pelets of clay for the minerals.Granted some things DO NOT taste good but you never know until you try it.I like the fried crickets and bamboo grubs the best,but only when they are fresh fried.The large black beetles are NASTY and stink like H_LL when they are cooked(my opinion). A beer Chang and a fresh bowl of fried crickets...YUUUUMMMMM . Rat is like any other type of meat,it will take on a flavor from the type of feed that it is given.Rats caught in the paddys taste sweet (not like sugar)and are delicious,because of the rice that they eat.If it tasted "rotten"that is probably because it was.I remember when I was a kid if the milking cows got into a field of wild onions thier milk tasted like onions.NOT GOOD Well anyway try everything at least once and enjoy your life. Photos of malang tod(crickets)kaew lam(sticky rice, coconut milk with peanuts in bamboo and sugar) and