Rats!

Eating rats.
Rural southern Cambodia.

We decided to tag along with a Cambodian-American friend of ours to a rural area in the southeast near the Vietnam border. He was returning, after decades, to see his aging parents and family who had survived the Khmer Rouge years. The plan was to throw a big party with 100 Buddhist monks as a blessing for the elderly parents ... and for entertainment. No TV out here.



After hours on a bumpy dirt road, crouched in the back of a covered pick-up, passing rural villages, we arrived at the family home. Armed guards and an army of excited, curious children greeted us. We were led into a guest room, and told to stay put. It took a while for word to get back to us, but here was the deal -- road bandits had murdered some neighbors the previous night. My father and I were clearly foreigners, which means we must be carrying bundles of cash, so for everyone's safety, we were instructed to stay indoors or out of sight in the covered yard. For a day or two or three, depending on when they felt the road was safe. We had 5 armed guards and even still the local provincial mayor came by to tell us everything was safe ... as long as we stayed out of sight.

But the monk party would continue as scheduled.



There was no electricity in these parts, and so I psyched myself up for a couple days of quiet living. But then came the generators. BROOOMMMMMMM!!! Lights were strung up in our room (with no off switch) and cacophonous Cambodian Buddhist music was cranked up and left on all night and day. A TV with kung fu flicks, and I think Rambo, ironically, was brought in for the kids.

In these parts, the food comes from the fields. Flooded fields full of frogs, eels, and rats. I've had plenty of frogs and eels before, so I won't go into that, but this was the first time I'd dined on rat. These are not city rats, they're big fat field 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.

(Seen the movie "The Killing Fields"? The man drinking blood from a live cow ... it's not fiction)

We left the next day, straight back to Phnom Penh. On the ride, we completely covered ourselves with traditional kramas (big scarves) to avoid unwanted attention. We did, however, stop along a safer section of road to get some fruit and here I found a man hunting for rats. They have a special stick -- a long pole with a hook -- to catch the rats. I asked if the rats were for sale but the man seemed pretty proud of his catch. Some of them had guts spilling out, which looked kinda icky.



I'd eat rats again, even if not by necessity. These are not filthy city rats, they're filthy field rats, if that makes them more appetizing for you.

* Addition July 2007 ... With all the flooding going on in south and central China this summer, the rats and mice of the fields are heading north and causing trouble. So authorities are asking people to eat them to keep the numbers down.

* Addition September 2008 ... With the current global food shortages, people are eating more rats.

Little Birds in Phnom Penh

Exploring the waterfront food vendors in Phnom Penh brings a wealth of curious finds. Unfortunately I had little time and no interpretor at this stall, so my research isn't very in-depth. But sometimes that's more fun because you have no idea what you've just eaten. Nothing wrong with that.

At one portable stall, I found a selection of small birds -- deep-fried and whole. I ordered one of each, three different ones, of varying sizes. I managed to communicate enough with body language to get the vendor to explain how to eat them properly. You only remove the beek and feet, and eat the whole bird in one or two bites. These were only OK. Kind of bland, but I was in a rush and didn't investigate to see if there were dipping sauces. I suspect these were not the best versions out there, so I hope to try these again on my next trip to Cambodia. Are they finches? Sparrows?

Pig Brains

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We were eating at one of those large shacks -- the big roadside restaurants with no walls and a tin roof -- in Siem Reap . We'd eaten quite a bit already, and drunk a ton of beer. (The beer in Cambodia is quite good. It's a mystery why a country with this climate produces at least 3 dark stout beers, which seem totally unfit for the hot weather. There's a reason Guinness comes from Ireland.) So fueled by the beer, I suppose, and the urge to drink more, we decide to order more munchies. Someone decides we should get the pig brains. Good with beer! is the concensus.

I expected something like the minced meat "larb" popular in Thailand, but the pig brains are more like a soupy stir-fry, with tomatoes, shallots, parsley, and fish sauce. I wouldn't have known it was pig brains unless someone had told me. Nothing remarkable but, yes, fine with beer.

I have to admit that animal brains is something I balk at before digging in. I suppose that's because things like Mad Cow disease have hit modern, western countries so recently. While I'm at it, I've never understood the logic behind feeding a naturally vegetarian cow some cow meat. Here's your cousin's brains to eat, moooo.

And, speaking of both Cambodia and Mad Cows ... did you hear the one about the Cambodian diplomat who suggested England send her mad cows over to run around the Cambodian countryside and knock out a few land mines? Two birds with one stone, eh? Sounds like a Jonathan Swift proposal -- absurd and offensive, but quite reasonable.

In America, they have this TV show called "Fear Factor". On this show they dare contestants to do things like eat weird meat. Read about the cow brain episode here.

Mekong Lobster and the Giant Squilla

Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 2004

I was catching the sunrise over the Mekong River this morning and on the banks a man approached me with a basket filled with small crabs, and what looked like a shrimp the size of my forearm. I'd never seen a shrimp that size, with foot-long antenne and a long, slender claw. He wanted USD $20 for it. I figured this was a ridiculous price, but I rushed back to my hotel to pick up some cash and ask a local friend for guidance. I was told this is actually a fresh-water Mekong Lobster, and I could find some at the big central market.

So I jumped on a moto and scooted over to the market and found some. There was only one vendor who had a real selection of them. The lowest price I could get for the Mekong Lobster (which looks more like a gigantic shrimp to me, than a lobster) was USD $6. I also scored a giant squilla, which is another crustacean -- a long, rectangular shell on top, colored purple and white. Also around $6. Brought them, squirming alive, back to the hotel restaurant and asked the staff what we could do with them.



Twenty minutes later, I was sitting down with a nice chilled French chardonnay and one of the best meals I've ever had. Seriously! The lobster was cooked in a freshly-made saffron-cream sauce, and the squilla in a citron, salt and Kampot pepper crust. Despite the massive size, I had no problem eating both of these, as the taste and texture were so sublime. I've paid $100 back home for a prime lobster -- this was better. And the hotel restaurant refused to charge me, except for the wine, since I'd bought the massive critters at the market myself. My father was kind enough to video me eating, so I'll post that here soon, in a few years when watching video online is a reasonable option.

Chicken or Egg ?

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

I thought I'd have to go to the Philippines for this one. It's actually been on the top of my "must eat it!" list for years. But lucky me! I found it last night, right around the corner from the Foreign Correspondents building in Phnom Penh. A nice lady with a cart had them.



Here's the deal: They take duck eggs in which the embryo has begun to form in to a real live chick, and hard boil them. Good with salt, pepper and lime. I bought two, one for my father, who insisted he was full from the salad he had for dinner (wimp!). Anyway, I got the whole thing on video.

You peel the egg shell off and inside is a duck egg (about 2-3 times as big as a normal chicken egg) and the egg is surrounded by blood vessels, and you can see the early form of a duck baby within the white of the egg. The yolk is still separate. The first bite had a crunchy surprise in the middle, which clearly resembled a beek and duck head. You can see the formation of feathers throughout the egg. Anyway, the whole treat had a pleasant savory flavor and denser texture than conventional hard-boiled eggs. I'm going to pick up a couple more for our road trip south today.

-----

OK, I've tried a few more now and found that they're available at different stages of embryonic development. You can get them younger (more like an egg), older (almost hatched), or anywhere in between. All are delicious. Although this one sounds probably the most "weird" of all weird meats, it's one of the most tasty. This is a popular snack food, with locals eating it while watching TV sports, picnicking, or as an appetizer to a full meal.

In the Philipines they call them balut eggs. Actually, I'll soon travel to Nanjing, China, where chicken abortions are a local specialty.

Eating Spiders in Cambodia

Location: Cambodia.

Spiders. Along the road north from Phnom Penh (Cambodia's capital city) to Angkor Wat (famous ancient temples), a town called Skuon is famous for edible spiders. These spiders look similar to furry North American tarantulas. There are road-side street vendors with large woks filled with oil for deep-frying the crispy critters. The spiders are breed in holes in the ground near the town.



I had been dozing off on the bus, but the dusty, frenetic road stop in Skuon jarred me awake. My Cambodian friend reminded me this was the town famous for edible spiders. He pointed out of the bus as we unboarded, to a row of street vendors standing behind large woks heated by trash-can barrel ovens. "Sometimes a few spiders get away, so watch your feet, don't want them to bite." I looked down at my Tevas sandals and shrugged, blinded by my white feet.

There they were, stacks of whole crispy-fried spiders. We ordered about 10 to share, and the vendor placed them into a plastic bag. A true road-side snack, we munched away on these as the bus drove us north to the ancient wonder of Angkor Wat. Some eat them straight like a sandwich, others pull off one or two legs at a time and eat them like french fries. My first time, I was methodical, tasting one leg at a time -- there are 8 of them, of course -- and finally eating the body in two sections. I found it easier to palate the body after the legs had been removed. I also found that a few cans of cold Angkor beer helped get me in the mood, and to wash down the grease.

There are two sections of the body, and the back with the pinchers is the best. The poison is killed when the spider is fried, but it doesn't nullify the medicinal quality -- good for coughs.

Only one of our Cambodian companions declined offers to munch on spider meat. He said he'd had enough of eating spiders to survive the Khmer Rouge years. (More on that later).

Verdict: Actually quite good! No it doesn't taste at all like fried chicken. Some think it tastes like crab, but I didn't find the resemblance. The taste itself is not strong, it's the cripsy-chewy texture that is most appealing. Make sure you have some paper napkins, as the black juice from these is greasy and it doesn't look good on your goatee. I've eaten about 10 insect-type creatures now, and these spiders are my favorite.