India's Poor Urged to 'Eat Rats'

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I'm sorry - I'm not going to any restaurant in a place called "Flushing"

[HAL 9000 96]

Y'all are going to be so disappointed in my lunch today...

Chicken with capers in a Potato and Carrot mix.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Capers make me throw up. Something about the taste.

[Peikko 1,575]

I have pea soup. I had chicken soup yesterday.

[HAL 9000 96]

Man... ugly and throwing up... lets work on that AJ!

[Imua 0]

I'm sorry - I'm not going to any restaurant in a place called "Flushing"

I actually like the name - I figure it keeps the image-conscious yuppie element at bay, keeps rents down...

To most people for whom Manhattan is the center of the universe, this place is considered BFE anyway, though in the winter my commute is actually quicker than when I lived on the Upper West Side.

I still can't get that Simpsons episode out of my head though, when Homer is driving on the freeway and needs to pee, sees a sign reading 'Next exit: FLUSHING' and it's pure torture for him....

[panamania79 2]

BBC NEWS

India's poor urged to 'eat rats'

By Amarnath Tewary

BBC News, Patna

An official in the Indian state of Bihar has come up with a new idea to encourage low caste poor people to cope with food shortages - rat meat.

The Principal Secretary of the state's Welfare Department, Vijay Prakash, said that he was advancing his proposal after "much survey and ground work".

Bihar's extremely poor Musahar community are rat-eaters by tradition.

The Musahar are on the bottom strata of the caste system with the lowest literacy rate and per capita income.

Less than one percent of their 2.3 million population in Bihar is literate and 98% are landless.

Delicacy

Mr Prakash says his proposals to popularise rat meat eating are intended to uplift their social-economic condition.

People now prefer to eat rat meat instead of chicken or goat as it comes cheaper and is more tasty and healthy

Vijay Prakash

"There are twin advantages of this proposal. First, we can save about half of our food grain stocks by catching and eating rats and secondly we can improve the economic condition of the Musahar community," he told the BBC.

According to Mr Prakash, about 50% of total food grain stocks in the country are eaten away by rodents.

He argues that by promoting rat eating more grain will be preserved while hunger among the Musahar community will be reduced.

He said that rat meat is not only a delicacy but a protein-enriched food, widely popular in Thailand and France.

"Rats have almost no bones and are quite rich in nutrition. People at large don't know this cuisine fact but gradually they are catching up."

However he may find it difficult to popularise such a strategy in a conservative society like Bihar and other north Indian states.

Mr Prakash says that he has recipes to make rat eating a delicacy, which he now wants to distribute to all the hotels in Bihar.

He also wants to encourage rat farming in the same way that poultry is farmed.

While eating rat meat is still stigmatised in urban areas of the country, Mr Prakash says that his research has revealed that it is a popular food item in some parts of Bihar where it is known at roadside hotels by the name of "patal-bageri".

This is not the first time that the department secretary has come out with such an innovative idea.

Earlier, he proposed to recruit eunuchs as security guards to maternity wards in hospitals.

"Yes, that proposal is in its advance stage and we'll very soon engage them in various social activities of our department," he said.

And the welfare secretary's next plan?

"I'll make snake catching popular for the economic value of its venom," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7557107.stm

'Musahar' literally means 'rat eater'. There are also tribal groups in southern Nepal near the Indian border who eat rats, and parrots

I've heard they are a good source of protein

[Mononoke28 137]

I've heard they are a good source of protein

Same with bugs, but I ain't eating any of that stuff.

Diana

[panamania79 2]

I've heard they are a good source of protein

Same with bugs, but I ain't eating any of that stuff.

Diana

Me neither

[Amby 490]

It's true, and it happened to Chinese cuisine in the UK too. Chinese restaurant food is so much sweeter and the meat to veg/starch ratio is way off too.

I had sweet and sour chicken in England and it tasted so much of vinegar I wanted to puke. I also had some lemon chicken stuff in Dublin and it just tasted like lemon juice.

[Peikko 1,575]

Sounds about right - actually, I had a chinese friend who made sweet and sour sauce out of ketchup, pineapples from a tin and rice wine vinegar so I guess it's not just the English who like these bizarre tastes.

I have found the chinese in the US to be patchy in terms of quality too. Some are so full of msg it makes me feel queazy. I guess a lot of the time it is good to cook.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's true, and it happened to Chinese cuisine in the UK too. Chinese restaurant food is so much sweeter and the meat to veg/starch ratio is way off too.

I had sweet and sour chicken in England and it tasted so much of vinegar I wanted to puke. I also had some lemon chicken stuff in Dublin and it just tasted like lemon juice.

I don't like some chinese restaurants where the meat is breaded - I think that's so nasty.

I have to say though - that I've not found a decent chinese restaurant in NJ either (though there's a few in NYC).

In California we didn't have a problem finding decent, good quality and reasonably priced restaurants.

Its one reason I'd like to move back. That and because NJ is just generally nasty.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

That and because NJ is just generally nasty.

You just set all the progress made in the "Jersey sucks" flamewar with Boo Yah back by years

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That and because NJ is just generally nasty.

You just set all the progress made in the "Jersey sucks" flamewar with Boo Yah back by years