Community | August 15, 2008 | 68 comments

India's poor urged to eat rats

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

Image
unclepete
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.

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

(continued at link)
  1. groups:
    Community,   Current News UK,   Current News US
  2. tags:
    News,  Current News UK,  India,  Current News US,  9 more
  3.     
    |

68 comments // India's poor urged to eat rats

  • jjeziorski
  • themanwithadog
    • 0
      themanwithadog  

    • I would have many problems eating rats , if the population problem is growing out of control it would be better to give free condoms and sex education

      I have no doubt that Vijay Prakash will not be having rats on his menu anytime the nearest to "rats" would be the drink ratafia

    • 3 years ago
  • bss05g
    • 0
      bss05g  

    • sorry to the people in India but at one time rats where a delicacy of the roman people and a food that the rich enjoyed, so don't real too bad maybe in another few hundred years it will go back to being a snobby food

    • 3 years ago
  • stephenthomson
  • pennyharford
    • 0
      pennyharford  

    • I'm from the south and we used to eat Squrriels all the time. It's just a cute rat that has a fuzzy tail & lives in a tree. when you are poor...it's actually pretty good.

    • 3 years ago
  • Eri_Soulja
  • blackdaylight
    • 0
      blackdaylight  
    • Eri_Soulja:

      this is not worse than mcdonalds. the rats are not genetically modified, or raised & held in the tortuous, inhumane conditions that nearly all of the chickens, pigs, & cows that americans eat are subject to everyday.

      its just meat. plus rats spread disease, so eating them instead of allowing them to bite kids & the poor will most likely slow down transmissions by lowering the number of rats potentially exposed to diseases that are transmittable to humans.

    • 3 years ago
  • themanwithadog
  • sweet1lani
  • ohh_Donna
  • hellhawk86
  • hellhawk86
  • hellhawk86
  • EclecticBadger
  • nyingma13
    • 0
      nyingma13  

    • Other rodents such as squirrel and rabbit are eaten without any fanfare,; I think the repulsion stems from the rat's historical role in spreading disease, which was usually carried in fleas on the rats, not in the rat's flesh itself. Has no one heard of rat-atouille????

    • 3 years ago
  • diode
  • Ken1138
    • 0
      Ken1138  

    • If an animal or insect roots through and consumes garbage and/or animal excrement, it's vermin. Period. No human being should be forced or even encouraged to consume vermin. There's no way to ensure that humans who might consume these rats will cook them adequately or even if cooking will destroy all deadly pathogens or chemical contaminents.

      If Mr. Prakash believes that street rats can be prepared in a way that makes them contaminent-free and suitable for human consumption, he should demonstrate his confidence in this miraculous new food source by feeding fricassee'd rat to his daughter, barbequed rat to his son, and rat-pot-pie to his mother. If he does this, then I'd say it's not a horrific insult to the dignity and humanity of the people in the Musahar area to encourage them to eat street rat meat themselves.

      What is wrong with the people on this planet?

    • 3 years ago
  • diode
  • Dut
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • Ken1138:

      Don't forget catfish and other bottom-feeders we all love so much. Chickens are notoroius for eating feces, and cattle have become cannibals in our society. Many fish are forced to eat excrement when contained in tanks awaiting death, and of course you find me one fish that hasn't eaten trash and I will show you a farm raised, never been to the ocean or a river, low in mineral and vitamin content creature that's probably not able to live without human intervention.
      Food is food - if I'm starving and there's a chihuahua nearby, guess who's gonna win? Beggars truly cannot be choosers, and while its easy to pontificate on the issue from the comfort of our own homes/workplaces/schools, until our foot is firmly planted in their shoe we cannot make value judgements on their diets.
      Next time you have leftovers you know you wont get to before they spoil, think of what they get to eat. Next time you clean out your refrigerator, be damn glad you're you instead of them...

    • 3 years ago
  • Helen_Croydon
  • Merge9
  • brad62
  • diode
  • brad62
    • 0
      brad62  

    • What's the problem? I think it's very fitting. They give us such a hard time with tech support whenever we have to call India.
      Let them eat RAT

    • 3 years ago
  • joshzimmerman
  • stephenthomson
  • queenofit
  • agitator
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  

    • I have a friend who told me he once dined with a refugee, and the man prepared a "mouse meal" served on a bed of rice. He did not really complain, but we did not talk much about it.

      also I found this comment on a blog relating to eating rats....

      "They were BBQ'd well done and (I've never used this before, OK) they tasted like chicken. Tough, stringy, BBQ-chicken-style rats. I suppose I could have stuck to the frogs and eels but this was as close I'd come to weird meat as a necessity. There were no shops here, and we hadn't brought enough food for our unexpected extended stay. Our Cambodian friends told us stories of what "weird foods" they ate to survive the darkest years under the regime. Rats seemed like a fortunate feast compared to some of these. And my fear and discomfort as we waited for a safe road out seemed petty."

    • 4 years ago
  • Pericles_Lewnes
  • Enjoy_Cannabis
  • Kynmore
    • 0
      Kynmore  

    • "Let them eat [rat] cake!" he says.

      Nevermind the religious reason for a moment. We know that they are, and it's a good reason not to eat them.

      But seriously, wild/feral rats in the streets would be the only kind of rat these people could eat, and I bet they're far from healthy. Even cooked, who knows what one might catch from street rats.

      If popel could afford pet-store rats, which I doubt they have anything like that, then they wouldn't even need to eat the ones they can catch.

      Vijay Prakash, you eat some rat as an example, then maybe people won't think you a moron.

    • 3 years ago
  • davidtaylor
    • 0
      davidtaylor  

    • I ate some weird things in Bolivia. Rat may very well have been one of the unidentified meats I ate. I can't say I enjoyed those meals very much. No wonder I lost so much weight that summer.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  

    • Furthermore, India has the world's largest population of Moslems for whom eating rats is counter to their religion and totally abhorrent. Bihar has the highest number of Muslims in India after Uttar Pradesh, so the official in the Indian state of Bihar who came up with this idea may well be considered to be particularly provocative and insulting towards the Muslims.

    • 3 years ago
  • mattbrawn
  • Meaghan1126
  • Argon18
  • Tori
  • richjm
    • 0
      richjm  

    • India is the world's second most populous nation, and with a rate of economic growth several times that of the United States, India seems on track to be a world power. But along with the most billionaires in Asia, it also has more poor people than the continent of Africa. Aided by an Indian movie star, Vanguard producer Tracey Chang looks at the growing gulf between India's rich and poor.

    • 3 years ago
  • Brockie
    • 0
      Brockie  

    • After reading the article a few things just don't make sense to me. On one hand they want to reduce the rat population by eating them, but they also want to start up rat farms to grow more rats. Isn't that counterproductive? And he says rat is a delicacy eaten in France. Sence when? I have never seen rat on any menu at a French restaurant.
      He talks about how getting rid of the rats by having the Musahar cast eat them, will save the grain in the storage bins. But nowhere does it mention sharing any of that grain with them. So what he's saying is "Eat our rats, but not our wheat".

    • 3 years ago
  • Beta_Boy
    • 0
      Beta_Boy  

    • I don't think it needs to be expressed for people to think it is a bit gross. You would have a hard job selling rat to the masses, unless of course you are MacDonalds.

      Having said that if I was on the brink of starvation they would be straight in the oven.

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
  • diode
    • 0
      diode  
    • Beta_Boy:

      its not bizarre, its meat. because we've domesticated so many wild animals and have things like PETA, eating meat other than traditional food sources in this country is weird while throughout the world, meat is meat. its survival, not animals have rights.

    • 3 years ago
  • Argon18
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  

    • Culture and beliefs run very deep in the Indian population, J_Jammer. They don't think the way you do. Please tell us who in this thread has expressed that eating rats is gross? One man's delicacy is another man's disgust. Most of the world finds what we eat quite gross.

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  
    • Vierotchka:

      Who is to say what most of the world would say.....

      I didn't state anyone said it was gross I said for those that will. eating a snail is far more grosser than rat...snails are slimy and rats actually have meat that could taste like....well chicken.

      Culture only runs deep in the generation that isn't the X generation...which means there are two generations of Indian people that are not abiding by such thinking...it'll only spread further.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • Vierotchka:

      Before being cooked, snails are drained of their slime - in a most cruel manner, I must add, since they are first starved for five or six days then are covered with salt which makes them leak out all their liquids, which is why I refuse to eat them.

      As for stating that there are two generations of Indians who do not abide by the beliefs and culture, that is utter nonsense. Maybe a tiny little microscopic fraction of them among the most affluent don't abide by them, but the overwhelming majority actually do.

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  
    • Vierotchka:

      That is cruel.

      And I don't mean to suggest they are in total rebellion, but to state that they are not strictly adhering to the moral code as had their parents before them.

      Such as the Europeans and the Americans with the more "liberating" thought that came about in the 60's.

    • 3 years ago
  • diode
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • French eat snails.....comment for those that think eating rat is gross.

      As for why Indians wouldn't eat rat....not all 1 billion think the same as those that are most religious. Isn't that flawed thinking that in this day in age that people are unified in thought as they were in past times?

      I think that's almost thinking less of them as a group than understanding them as a whole.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • Image

    • Another reason why suggesting that the poor in India eat rats is not a good idea is because India's most popular God is Ganesh who is always depicted with a rat at its feet or riding a giant rat. Since rats are seen as being capable of gnawing their way through most things, the rat symbolizes Ganesh's ability to destroy every obstacle.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanaPokana
    • 0
      JanaPokana  
    • Image

    • I found this link with some 'delicious' rat recipes ... maybe we should all start eating rats instead of feeding them to the poor only?

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  

    • (continued from above)

      Karni Mata cut a deal with Yama: From that point forward, all of her tribespeople would be reborn as rats until they could be born back into the clan.

      In Hinduism, death marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one on the path to a soul's eventual oneness with the universe. This cycle of transmigration is known as samsara and is precisely why Karni Mata's rats are treated like royalty.

      Gautam Ghosh, professor of anthropology and Asian studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, noted how rare this rat-worshipping temple is. "In India, as in the West, rats aren't treated with particular veneration."

      In Hinduism, many deities take animals forms. "The main theological point is that there's no dividing line between what forms gods or goddesses can use," said Rachel Fell McDermott, professor of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures at Barnard College in New York City. "There's nothing to say they can't take form as a fish, a bird, or even a rat."

      Ghosh noted that this temple is linked to the royal family who ruled Bikaner, a nearby city. When a Hindu royal family is seeking greater power, they look to the local cults for a patron god—or, according to London-based art historian George Michell, usually a goddess—to help them attain that power.

      The male gods are not as powerful for direct involvement in people's lives, he explained, so cults surrounding local goddesses are commonly used to help sway things in their favor. "Kings who want to be powerful in India must be protected by goddesses," Michell said. This is how the Karni Mata Temple was established.

      More at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0628_040628_tvrats_2.html

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • Image

    • Rats are held sacred by many Hindus, the suggestion that they should be used as food can be as shocking to some of them as is the suggestion of killing cows for meat. Excerpt from the linked article:

      Rats Rule at Indian Temple

      The floors are a living tangle of undulating fur. Small, brown blurs scurry across marble floors. Thousands of rats dine with people and scamper over their feet.

      It may sound like a nightmare from the New York City subway to some, but in India's small northwestern city of Deshnoke, this is a place of worship: Rajastan's famous Karni Mata Temple.

      This ornate, isolated Hindu temple was constructed by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess, Karni Mata. Intricate marble panels line the entrance and the floors, and silver and gold decorations are found throughout.

      But by far the most intriguing aspect of the interior is the 20,000-odd rats that call this temple home. These holy animals are called kabbas, and many people travel great distances to pay their respects.

      The legend goes that Karni Mata, a mystic matriarch from the 14th century, was an incarnation of Durga, the goddess of power and victory. At some point during her life, the child of one of her clansmen died. She attempted to bring the child back to life, only to be told by Yama, the god of death, that he had already been reincarnated.

      (continued below)

    • 3 years ago
  • Beta_Boy
    • 0
      Beta_Boy  

    • I think once you get over the initial shock of the idea of rats you can see the point.

      Killing 2 birds with 1 stone, providing the poorest members of society with something beneficial whilst helping to protect food stocks.

      Having said that, how is he going to tell them? The literacy rate is so low that they won't be reading about it.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • Beta_Boy:

      In 2001, the literacy rate in India was 61.3% for adults, and 73.3% for youth. Considering the fact that India's population is a bit over one billion, that's a heck of a lot of literate people.

    • 3 years ago
  • sweet1lani
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • Beta_Boy:

      V - read the article.
      "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."
      Sweet - its less the rats themselves and more the ticks and other blood-feeders that live on them. Most all diseases are eliminated once the meat is thoroughly cooked. The scary ones are prions, like what is thought to cause Mad Cow Disease (although an animal to human transmission of BSE has never truly been documented), because there is no life to them essentially - they have no protein structure and are neigh-on indestructible. Rat meat is pretty safe to eat, just like catfish, the rats of the ocean...

    • 3 years ago
  • JackHerer
    • 0
      JackHerer  
    • Image

    • In 1937, Ralph Loziers, general counsel of the National Institute of Oilseed Products, told the Congressional committee studying marijuana prohibition that “hempseed... is used in all the Oriental nations and also in a part of Russia as food. It is grown in their fields and used as oatmeal. Millions of people every day are using hempseed in the Orient as food. They have been doing this for many generations, especially in periods of famine.”

      That was over 70 years ago. Today we know hempseed is the plant kingdom’s richest source of life-giving essential fatty acids, and may well be the cure for cancer and heart disease.

    • 3 years ago
  • J_Jammer
  • Vierotchka
  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  
    • JackHerer:

      If it's not a political bashing article of Bush it's a bashing of police. If it's neither of those it's the over zealous promotion of MJ.

      All three topics are over done and tiring and sad that people pander to them every moment one of them is merely mentioned.

      Those that are on the fence are no longer caring because those that are talking about it do nothing but talk about it.

      Take a break.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
  • J_Jammer
  • Enjoy_Cannabis
  • J_Jammer
  • alicynx
    • 0
      alicynx  
    • JackHerer:

      What in Hades does that have to do with eating rats?? I agree with J here only in that the post is ill placed. Create a new MJ thread, or post something related to the article. Otherwise expect to get flagged.

    • 3 years ago
more from Community:
from the community

top videos