Rat a Sushi - Rat Meat is Being Promoted as a Delicacy in India

According to numerous news organizations, diners across Asia are offering rat meat as an option on their menu and a high ranking government official in India is touting its nutritional value and flavor which, you guessed it, tastes a bit like chicken. Entrepreneurs are already jumping on the vermin bandwagon considering the fact that in countries such as Cambodia, where there is a major food shortage, the price of rat meat has already quadrupled. Now, they are aiming at India's affluent population to try and cash in on a potentially hot vermin market.

The Indian government has already succeeded in popularizing rat eating amongst the lower economic caste system, according to the BBC. The principal Secretary of the State's Welfare Department in India, Vijay Prakash, says the he is encouraging rat consumption to kill two birds with one stone by lifting the impoverished out of hunger and nutritional deficiency, as rats are rich in protein, and increasing the overall food supply and economy by catching and killing more rats to save 50% on food grain stocks which are eaten by rats.

Prakash not only touts the nutritional value of rats, he claims they're delicious, being virtually boneless and considered to be cuisine in parts of France and Thailand. He also claims to have numerous recipes that make them a tasty treat, not just an economic necessity. As he plans to promote the vermin delicacy to the Northern, more affluent states of India such as Binar he may run into the psychological stigma that obviously stands in the way of adding rats to the menu. However, he doesn't seem to be discouraged by this and sites road side diners in Binar that serve rat meat under the name "patel bagen" as evidence of their acceptance.

With the surplus of the rat population, and the fact that they are available free, lots of entrepreneurs are excitedly embracing the market. Hotel owners are already working with Prakash to try and work out a plan to market the meat as a delicacy in luxury restaurants by combing the rat meat with the appropriate spices. Children and smaller level entrepreneurs are already spending their days trapping and skinning rodents to sell to road side restaurants and prepare for potential rat mania.

As the price of beef in Asian countries has skyrocketed to the point of being completely unaffordable to the average person, the demand for rat meat has increased tremendously, according to a New York Times article by Daniel Hammermesh. With an inflation rate of 37%, the price of rat meat has already quadrupled in Cambodia. If there is a mass harvesting of rats, eventually their price will rise even more dramatically.

So if you have a rat problem, don't call the exterminator. You're sitting on a gold mine!

Sources -

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/how-rat-meat-becomes-a-rarity/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7557107.stm