• Substance_P@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    88
    ·
    4 days ago

    Hunters take advantage of the field rats’ reliable presence and sell their bounty to local roadside vendors or export it to Vietnam. In Cambodia, sellers cook the rat over charcoal and serve it accompanied by dipping sauces made from lime juice and black pepper or fish sauce and chilies. The skin is salty and rich, similar to roast chicken, while the meat itself has the savoriness of pork. Most Cambodians pair it with a local lager, such as Angkor. And no you don’t eat the tail.

      • Substance_P@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        40
        ·
        4 days ago

        Apparently field mice with a diet of rice, corn and sugar-cane are vastly different “animals” than their city dwelling brethrens.

        • Dasus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          3 days ago

          Well this is kinda easy to understand even as a westerner; you probably consider a gray/flecked pigeon as a something more or less dirty, but a white dove is the sign of purity and whatnot.

          Exactly the same animal, just different colouring.

          Somehow we just think eating French fries off the ground makes pigeons dirty but doves eating insects is completely fine.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            3 days ago

            Pigeons are done so dirty it’s so sad.

            I mean I also would like if they didn’t cover everything in pewp en masse, preferably, but otherwise they’re beautiful animals that aren’t the “flying rats” people have dubbed them as.

            I think anything will be considered more clean, appealing, and less gross when it isn’t being forced to scrounge around a nasty toxic concrete city habitat for scrap sustenance, but what do I know. Lol

          • nomy@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            3 days ago

            I know lots of small game hunters in the U.S. and it’s very much the same. Try to avoid taking game close to human developments as they’ll feed on trash and it can lead to issues like overpopulation and disease.

            Taking game from wild areas means the animal has had to hunt and forage to survive leading to a healthier population and healthier harvest.

      • DarkCloud@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        4 days ago

        Still I wonder whether they’d taste even better if they were given A LOT of food, and made very fatty.

        • Soggy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          4 days ago

          Depends entirely on where the rat came from. I wouldn’t eat a New York city garbage rat but I see nothing wrong with a woods rat. People eat woods animals all the time, including rabbit and squirrel.

          • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            3 days ago

            And racoon. Racoons are delicious, the meat being comparable to dark meat chicken. I wouldn’t eat some city trash panda, but the coons out here in the country are hell yeah.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 days ago

        Yeah, I was thinking it sounded like a good menu description. Wouldn’t it would be fun to come home and tell everyone you had barbecued farm-raised country rat?

        • mistermodal@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          7 hours ago

          I would immediately post rat mukbang on social media in fact. I look forward to visiting Cambodia soon.