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Rat meat is the meat of various species of rat: medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. It is a food that, while taboo in some cultures, is a dietary staple in others. [1] [2] Taboos include fears of disease or religious prohibition, but in many places, the high number of rats has led to their incorporation into the local diets.
In Malawi of East Africa, people there hunted field mice in corn fields for food: they strung the mice on sticks and cooked, salted or dried the mice as a popular delicacy in markets and roadside stalls. [3] In Sub-Saharan Africa where cane rats are found, some people have the habit of eating them. [4]
Rat stew was once consumed in West Virginia, the dish having originated during economic hardship due to a collapse in the mining industry. [5] The dish is an example of roadkill cuisine and has appeared in the Marlington Roadkill Cook-off. [6]
In some cultures, rats are or have been limited as an acceptable form of food to a particular social or economic class. In the Mishmi culture of India, rats are essential to the traditional diet, as Mishmi women may eat no meat except fish, pork, wild birds and rats. [7] Conversely, the Musahar community in north India has commercialised rat farming as an exotic delicacy. [8]
Ricefield rat ( Rattus argentiventer ) meat is eaten in Vietnamese, [9] [10] [11] [12] [ unreliable source? ] Taiwanese, [13] [14] [15] Cambodian and [11] Chinese cuisines. Rat-on-a-stick is a roasted rat dish consumed in Vietnam and Cambodia. [16]
A 2020 study on wildlife trade in three southern Vietnamese provinces found that 55 percent of the field rats sold in tested restaurants were carrying a coronavirus. [17]
In Victorian Britain rich and poor ate rat pie. [18] During food rationing due to World War II, British biologists were known to eat laboratory rats, creamed. [19]
A recipe for grilled rats, Bordeaux-style, calls for the use of alcoholic rats who live in wine cellars. These rats are skinned and eviscerated, brushed with a thick sauce of olive oil and crushed shallots, and grilled over a fire of broken wine barrels. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]
In Valencia, Spain, Ricefield rat (Rattus argentiventer) meat was immortalized by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez in his novel Cañas y barro. Along with eel and local beans known as garrafons, rata de marjal (marsh rat) is one of the main ingredients in traditional paella (later replaced by rabbit, chicken and seafood). [25]
In the traditional cultures of the Hawaiians and the Polynesians, rat was an everyday food for commoners. When feasting, the Polynesian people of Rapa Nui could eat rat meat, but the king was not allowed to, due to the islanders' belief in his "state of sacredness" called tapu. [26] In studying precontact archaeological sites in Hawaii, archaeologists have found the concentration of the remains of rats associated with commoner households accounted for three times the animal remains associated with elite households. The rat bones found in all sites are fragmented, burned and covered in carbonized material, indicating the rats were eaten as food. The greater occurrence of rat remains associated with commoner households may indicate the elites of precontact Hawaii did not consume them as a matter of status or taste. [27]
Elsewhere in the world, rat meat is considered diseased and unclean, socially unacceptable, or there are strong religious proscriptions against it. Islam and Kashrut traditions prohibit it.
Both the Shipibo people of Peru and Sirionó people of Bolivia have cultural taboos against the eating of rats. [28] [29]
Rats are a common food item for snakes, both in the wild, and as pets. Adult rat snakes and ball pythons, for example, are fed a diet of mostly rats in captivity. Rats are readily available (live or frozen) to individual snake owners, as well as to pet shops and reptile zoos, from many suppliers. In Britain, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 "legally required that prey be killed before feeding unless absolutely necessary for the health of the predator." [30] [31] The rule was put into place mainly because of the pressure of the RSPCA and people who said the feeding of live animals was cruel.
A mouse is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse. Mice are also popular as pets. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are locally common. They are known to invade homes for food and shelter.
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus Rattus. Other rat genera include Neotoma, Bandicota and Dipodomys.
The black rat, also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus Rattus, in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is now found worldwide.
Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existence, wild horses were hunted as a source of protein.
The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat, known to the Māori as kiore, is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia, and like its relatives has become widespread, migrating to most of Polynesia, including New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii. It shares high adaptability with other rat species extending to many environments, from grasslands to forests. It is also closely associated with humans, who provide easy access to food. It has become a major pest in most areas of its distribution.
"Behavioral sink" is a term invented by ethologist John B. Calhoun to describe a collapse in behavior that can result from overpopulation. The term and concept derive from a series of over-population experiments Calhoun conducted on Norway rats between 1958 and 1962. In the experiments, Calhoun and his researchers created a series of "rat utopias" – enclosed spaces where rats were given unlimited access to food and water, enabling unfettered population growth. Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" in a February 1, 1962, Scientific American article titled "Population Density and Social Pathology" on the rat experiment. He would later perform similar experiments on mice, from 1968 to 1972.
A fancy mouse is a domesticated form of the house mouse, one of many species of mice, usually kept as a type of pocket pet. Fancy mice have also been specially bred for exhibiting, with shows being held internationally. A pet mouse is inexpensive compared to larger pets, and even many other pet rodents, but mice are comparatively short-lived: typically only 2 to 3 years.
Some people do not eat various specific foods and beverages in conformity with various religious, cultural, legal or other societal prohibitions. Many of these prohibitions constitute taboos. Many food taboos and other prohibitions forbid the meat of a particular animal, including mammals, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and insects, which may relate to a disgust response being more often associated with meats than plant-based foods. Some prohibitions are specific to a particular part or excretion of an animal, while others forgo the consumption of plants or fungi.
The killing of animals is animal euthanasia, animal sacrifice, animal slaughter, hunting, blood sports, roadkill or self-defense.
Cat meat is meat prepared from domestic cats for human consumption. Some countries view cat meat as a regular food, whilst others have consumed cat meat only in desperation, e.g., during wartime, famine or poverty.
The ricefield rat is a species of rat found throughout Southeast Asia.
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or readily available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as drought.
Castor and Pollux were two elephants kept at the zoo Jardin des Plantes in Paris. They were killed and eaten, along with many other animals from the zoo, in late 1870 during the Siege of Paris. The two elephants may have been siblings, and were named after the twin brothers of Greek and Roman mythology. They had been popular before the siege for giving rides on their backs around the park, but the food shortages caused by the German blockade of the city eventually drove the citizens of Paris to kill them for their meat.
Rodents are commonly used in animal testing, particularly mice and rats, but also guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils and others. Mice are the most commonly used vertebrate species, due to their availability, size, low cost, ease of handling, and fast reproduction rate.
Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are native to all major land masses except for New Zealand, Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity.
Roadkill cuisine is preparing and eating roadkill, animals hit by vehicles and found along roads.
Chapli kebab or chapli kabab is a Pashtun-style minced kebab, usually made from ground beef, mutton or chicken with various spices in the shape of a patty. The chapli kabab originates from Peshawar in Pakistan. The Peshawari chapli kabab is made with beef and is a popular street food throughout South Asia, including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Monkey meat is the flesh and other edible parts derived from monkeys, a kind of bushmeat. Human consumption of monkey meat has been historically recorded in numerous parts of the world, including multiple Asian and African nations. Monkey meat consumption has been reported in parts of Europe and the Americas as well.
Rat-on-a-stick, also referred to as rat kebab, is a dish or snack consisting of a roasted rat served on a stick or skewer. The dish is consumed in Thailand and Vietnam. Prior to roasting, the rat is typically skinned and washed, after which it is gutted to remove its internal organs and then roasted.
Rodent farming is an agricultural process in which rodents are bred and raised with the intent of selling them for their meat. They are often categorised in a sub-category of livestock known as micro-livestock, due to their small size. Rodents have been used as food in a wide range of cultures, including Hawaiian, Vietnamese, French, Indian and Thai.
Rat stew was born out of lean times as a result of the collapse of the mining industry
There were other [people] who actually celebrated the eating of rat as a culinary cultural inheritance, to the point where in Marlinton, West Virginia, for instance, they hold this annual roadkill cookoff in order to celebrate the eating of roadkill in West Virginia. When I visited the annual roadkill cookoff in Marlington, there were two folks preparing rat dishes.
XXII BREAKFASTING ON RATS
the percentage that tested positive for at least one of six different coronaviruses jumped significantly. It increased from 20 percent of wild-caught rats sold by traders, to slightly more than 30 percent at large markets, the next step in the supply chain, to 55 percent of rats sold in restaurants that tested positive.
creamed rat.
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