Formerly disgusting mice are now for sale
[Original headline]
September 2, 2019

Kompong Chhnang: Formerly disgusting mice [rats] are now being sold almost daily and they have become a popular commodity for everyday consumption and are no longer considered disgusting.


A woman who buys the rats in Kampong Chhnang said that every morning she came to weigh in and buy rats sold by the villagers on the river. In just one morning she can deal in 70 kilograms to 100 kilograms of rats. General prices are from 7000-10,000 riel a kilo. Rat catchers usually take up their trade when they are not fishing or farming.

Rats are seen for sale in the market in Kampong Chhnang and elsewhere, and they are a popular food for locals as roasted or fried meat.


Rats are eaten all year round but, but the meat is most delicious in the rainy season. People say that the rats from the countryside are clean animals living on grass roots, rice, wild fruits, and some crops, but that the town rats are disgusting.

obelisks wrote: ↑Tue Aug 26, 2014 2:32 pm they look awfully like Pedigree Siberian hamsters to me

"BASIL!"

They were very popular in London at one time between 1665 and 1666 (until the Great Fire)

BBQ rat seller, Battambang

In Takeo, Migrant Families Turn to Rat Trade Amid Covid-19 Pandemic
10 min read

Mech Dara and Ananth Baliga
| Mon Aug 17, 2020 11:00 am

KOH ANDET DISTRICT, Takeo — It is late July in Takeo province, as Lor Sam Ath opens a large, neon orange cooler, removing a massive slab of ice. The Takeo resident then proceeds to hack away at the slab, icy shards flying in every direction as he carves pieces of ice the size of a grapefruit.

The bare-chested man inserts a hunk of ice into each of the 10 large, wire-mesh cages in his front yard. Each cage is packed to the brim with squirming — and a few dead — rice field rats. The ice allows the rodents to stay hydrated and survive the journey to neighboring Vietnam where they will be sold.

Sam Ath and his wife Tum Sok are among the many brokers who collect rats caught by villagers in Takeo’s Koh Andet district. During the rainy season, the rising waters in the rice fields surrounding the district provide an ample supply of palm-sized, gray rodents.

The rats, which usually feed on rice stalks, are then exported to Vietnam, where they are cooked up and consumed. A number of villagers are coy when asked about the exported rats’ fates, with only Sam Ath loudly exclaiming: “They eat them!”

Sok, 48, says they had to stop buying rats from villagers in April and early May because the Vietnamese border was closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was only in late May, she says, that they could resume sending live rats across the border, either by road or small waterways. After restarting their business, Sok and Sam Ath, 51, say they have seen an increase in people catching rats and selling the rodents to the various brokers in their district.

“There are many people who are now selling rats because they do not have any employment to buy food,” Sok says.
“There is too much supply,” Sok explains. “As long as they catch, we will buy, but if our buyers in Vietnam don’t buy then we cannot.” Prices, she says, have dropped from 5,000 riel (around $1.25) a kilogram to 4,500 riel ($1.10) during the monsoon season, which started in May.

Sok says there has been an increase in people catching rats in the district, mostly because many have been out of work and have had few employment opportunities since the start of the global Covid-19 pandemic — except for work in the rice fields.

“It is helpful for the villagers,” Sok says, referring to the rat trade. “They can at least earn 10,000 riel ($2.50) to 15,000 ($ 3.75) riel a day.”
https://vodenglish.news/in-takeo-migran ... -pandemic/

As food prices rise, and meat such as chicken and pork becomes more expensive, Cambodians are turning to alternative sources of meat for their protein.

Cambodia News, Battambang: Muy Roeun, a former migrant construction worker in Thailand, has been raising rats for more than two years now. He started raising rats in 2019 to sell to those who like rat meat as food, and he also sells his rats to other breeders.


Today, rat meat is very popular among people who like to eat it; it can be cooked in many ways, like roasted, BBQ, or fried with vegetables and so on.

Mr. Muy Roeun said that he had previously worked as a construction worker in Thailand in 2015, when he learned how to breed rats so when he returned, he started experimenting with raising rats for meat. He set up his own farm called "Sovanrachna" in Suon Sla village, Kdol Ta Hen commune, Bor Vel district, Battambang province.