Eating rat and mouse meat, recipes and dishes made from rats and mice. Extreme cuisine. Countries where they eat rats. And not from hunger, but because it’s delicious - Tourism

Have you ever wondered if you can eat rats? Not if we're talking about about extreme situation, when the price of an action is survival, then this is not discussed. In such circumstances, eat anything. But in normal circumstances, most of us would probably refuse such a treat. This is explained simply, because the rat is considered one of the most vile and disgusting animals and it is very difficult to imagine it at ease.

Meanwhile, in the eyes of the residents South-East Asia This rodent is a completely normal food. Moreover, in Lately restaurants with corresponding exotic menus have appeared in some European countries. So it is quite possible that very soon we will see rat carcasses in the meat departments of our stores.

Culinary history of the rat

It must be said that the use of rats as a food product is not just a tribute to fashion or a passion for exoticism. Everything new, as we know, is well-forgotten old, and if most modern Europeans are disgusted by the mention of these rodents, then their ancestors used rat meat with great pleasure, for which there is a lot of reliable evidence.

For example, the residents of France have never been faced with the question of whether they can eat rats. The tradition of eating rats existed here already in the 19th century. They were fried over an open fire with the addition of shallots. Meat prepared in this way was considered an irreplaceable source of protein, and in the menu of the world-famous Parisian chef of that era, Thomas Genen, rat dishes occupied first place. In Medieval China, during Marco Polo’s visit to this country, rats were considered a delicacy and only came to the table of noble people.

Digging into the sources, you can find a lot of examples of voluntary eating of rats in circumstances that did not encourage this at all. True, over time, European civilization took a different path and abandoned such a diet. But in Asia, rats are still actively used in cooking and in some countries they are even considered a strategic food resource.

Caution - danger

Those lovers of thrills and exotic dishes who are seriously thinking about cooking a rat would do well to remind you that These rodents are active carriers of infectious diseases. Thus, it was the black rat, according to researchers, that in the 13th century provoked an outbreak of bubonic plague, which killed 25 million people - the population medieval Europe as a result of that epidemic, it decreased by a quarter. Today it is reliably known that rats are the source of 20 of the most dangerous diseases, for example, typhoid or Lassa fever.

Supporters of eating rat meat have their own counter-arguments to this. The fact is that The danger of infection comes mainly from urban rats. These rodents mostly live in garbage dumps, feed on waste and often come into contact with sources of all kinds of infection. Therefore, it is better to immediately abandon the idea of ​​eating such a rat once and for all.

In the countries of Southeast Asia and Oceania, cooks use special rats that are caught in rice fields, where they live in dams near the water and eat organic foods. If we are talking about special restaurants that serve dishes made from rat meat, then the meat is supplied to them from special farms where rodents are raised in compliance with all necessary sanitary standards. So the risk of infection in this case is close to zero.

Traditions of rat cooking

So, with regard to whether it is possible to eat rats, everything is clear - the answer is yes. But what is the best way to prepare this unusual product in order to fully experience its taste? There are many ways. Most often, rats are, of course, roasted over an open fire. This heat treatment additionally disinfects the meat and serves as protection against all kinds of infections. IN Latin America For example, charcoal-roasted rats are served with chili sauce and are considered a delicacy.

You can also deep-fry rats, as cooks from Southeast Asia do. But experts recommend choosing younger individuals for such recipes, since the meat of adult rodents in this case turns out to be tough. In China, it is customary to boil rats. Particularly popular among local gourmets are noodles made from rat meat broth with the addition of various oriental spices: curry, turmeric, garlic, etc.

Rats. Facts, myths, legends...

Do you know which animal has killed the most in the history of mankind? human lives? Do you think these are poisonous scorpions? Predatory wolves, creepy crocodiles or rattlesnakes? You are wrong. It's rats! Ordinary gray and black rats... The same black rats that brought the plague with them to Europe in the 14th century, the epidemic of which killed a third of the population of all of Europe.

Every year, rodents eat 1/5 of the world's grain harvest. The appetites of these creatures can be judged by the volume of supplies found in burrows: gray rats (pasyuki) drag several buckets of potatoes, carrots, nuts from cellars into their shelters, steal prepared dumplings, cheeses, sausages, steal eggs directly from under the hens, accumulating up to 3 dozen pieces in their closets.
Fighting rats is difficult. Traps, mousetraps and other human tricks do not affect them as they would like. If one member of the group dies in a mousetrap, the rats inform each other about the danger, and no one will fall for this trick a second time. The same will happen with the poison placed: the rats will remember why their relative died, and will no longer touch the bait. Rats have developed resistance to many deadly poisons. Rats cause great harm, not only by eating, contaminating and spoiling a variety of food products, but also rendering these creatures unusable various materials and structures, including insulation of electrical cables, various devices, etc.
Their teeth grow throughout their lives, upper incisors grow at a rate of 1 cm per month. Therefore, in order to avoid terrible death Due to teeth growing into their jaws, rats gnaw on everything that gets in their way. There are known cases of accidents at power plants caused by rats. A rat can even destroy metals and alloys with low hardness, not exceeding the hardness of the enamel of the incisors, such as copper, lead, tin, etc.

It is believed that there are almost twice as many rats on Earth as people. The average lifespan of rats is quite short: from one to two and a half years, but these animals are unusually fertile. A female gray rat can give birth to her first offspring at the age of 4-5 months, and she will give birth to 2-3 litters per year, up to 17 pups each. Biologists have calculated that the offspring of just one pair of rats in a year can reach 15 thousand individuals. Of course, a significant part of them die, otherwise the rats are very short term would fill the entire Earth. On average, a rat weighs 200-250 grams, but the largest of them grow up to half a kilogram. These are active animals with extraordinary physical characteristics. If necessary, the rat can reach speeds of up to 10 km/h, overcoming barriers up to 80 cm high while moving (they can jump up to 1 meter from a standstill). Every day a rat runs from 8 to 17 km. They swim well (can stay in the water for up to 12 hours) and dive, staying in the water column for a long time and even catching prey there. Rats have poor vision. Rats basically see everything in gray color. The sense of smell is well developed. They hear sounds with a frequency of up to 50 kHz (humans - up to 20 kHz). They live and breed well both in refrigerators at temperatures of minus 18-20 degrees, and behind the casing of steam boilers, where the heat is constantly above 50 degrees. Withstand high level radiation. When falling from the fifth floor, they do not receive serious damage. Through ventilation pipes, rats can climb into apartments on the highest floors.
So, rats are unique animals with developed intellect. Some “scientists” even came to the conclusion that rats are nothing more than a civilization accompanying people, in which everything is like people: hierarchy, language, relationships, etc. Western “luminaries of science” claim that rats have a sense of humor and they can really laugh.
You have already realized that it is not easy to fight these tenacious, “unique”, well-organized, intelligent animals. But it's still possible weakness rats - hunger! A rat won't last even two days without water. She needs 30-35 ml of water per day. But without food, rats do not survive more than three to four days.

Habits and habitats.

IN middle lane In Russia there are mainly two types of rats: black and gray.

Black rat, or roofing, attic, ship rat. The coloring of “black” rats is different great variety- from pure black, black-brown with graying to reddish, red-gray, typically pasyukov color and ashy. Young animals are more uniformly colored than adults. Black rats are smaller in size than gray ones, but large old animals, especially from pigsties, can reach 350-380 g. This is heat-loving by origin tropical look. It climbs very well, in nature it often leads a semi-arboreal lifestyle, it swims reluctantly and rarely. Active mainly at night. Black rats live in groups that include adults of both sexes and young animals. Hierarchical relationships are established within the group with dominance of one male. Two or three females usually dominate the rest of the group with the exception of the eldest male. Black rats are less aggressive than pasyuki; females are more aggressive than males. In case of danger, they try to hide from their pursuer and only, when caught, use their teeth. Over the past 100 years, the black rat's habitat has been dramatically reduced and fragmented. It is believed that black rat displaces the more prolific and hardy pasyuk.


So, in our country the most common gray rat, it is also called barn rat, red rat or pasyuko. This is the largest and most vicious of the rats living among us. In places where they live together, where they compete for food and shelter, the gray rat always wins and displaces the black one. The gray rat is strong, cunning, unusually daring and dexterous, lives in cities, villages, residential buildings (usually in basements), warehouses, fields, gardeners' gardens, and even lives in forests. You can also see it at the station railway, as well as on the pier, a favorable environment for its habitat is also a garbage dump and the surrounding area; they like to live near landfills food waste, that is, gray rats live wherever there is food. In addition to plants, rats happily eat meat products and feed on garbage. They also eat animal carcasses and unattended bodies. dead people. And one of the reasons for sitting near the deceased (so that he is not left alone) is rooted precisely in this circumstance. This is explained by the fact that rats are very attracted to the fresh smell of corpses. Rats also attack completely living creatures: young chickens, geese, piglets, puppies, ducks, in a word, all small animals that cannot defend themselves, including helpless little human cubs.

In cities Rat habitats are closely related to humans. They are usually found in basements and on the first floors of buildings. At large numbers rats can also penetrate the upper floors, right up to the attic. In the warm season, animals often settle in earthen burrows on open areas: in gardens, parks, lawns and other places. With the onset of cold weather, rats return to buildings. However, the pasyuk is not distributed everywhere, but only in those areas of the terrain that meet its main requirement: the presence of sufficient water and food. If there is a lack of food, the rat can move up to 3 km from the nest in search of it. To get inside the room, the rat uses any destruction around the inputs technical communications, faulty windows, doors and hatches. Indoors, rats move along walls or shelters. Sometimes they can travel through sewer pipes, emerging from the toilet and returning through it back to the basement. Rats are mainly animals with a nocturnal and crepuscular type of activity. During daylight hours, they lead a secretive lifestyle, staying in their shelters or other shelters. The life of a gray rat is connected with its home, in which it finds not only protection from predators and adverse influences external environment, but it serves her to feed her offspring. Basically, rats prefer to dig holes in the ground at a depth of 50-60 cm, and the total length of one rat hole can reach 2-5 meters. Sometimes rats live in nests located directly among bags of various products, in various voids, under canopies, in construction waste etc. In low-rise buildings, or in multi-storey buildings without garbage collection chambers, rats can live in basements, burrows near container sites or at a short distance from them. Favorable conditions for the existence of rats in a residential building, its structural elements are created, in which heat and sound insulating layers made of polystyrene foam and other materials that are easily chewed by rats have now begun to be used. Rats willingly populate the space behind suspended ceilings, technical corridors, and other places that are difficult for humans to reach. In houses equipped with a garbage chute system, gray rats live in the garbage chambers and in the immediate vicinity of them in structural elements buildings and burrows that they make in the ground of basements. When the population is high, rats live near all garbage chutes, and when the population is low, they live only near those where the conditions are especially favorable for them. Rats can live in the same buildings without moving into neighboring ones. Relocation can only be associated with the destruction of the building, its major repairs. At the same time, they scatter not far away (300-400 m) and hide in neighboring (often unfinished) buildings. But if necessary, they can move several kilometers, which contributes to their wide distribution. As a rule, pasyuki live in small families, groups or clans of 5-15 individuals. Each group occupies its own area of ​​territory (approximately 40-50 sq. m), within which the animals find everything the necessary conditions for existence: food, water, shelter. The boundaries of the rat's area are marked with urine. On it the rats create travel paths, underground passages, and shelters. The number of rats in residential buildings, just like in other buildings, undergoes regular changes. seasonal changes, increasing in the spring due to mass exit young animals and in the fall - due to the arrival of young animals from spring litters, as well as individuals of other groups.

IN wildlife gray rat, lives near water, preferring gentle banks with soft soil, where you can dig a long (up to 5 meters) hole. When this shelter is flooded during a flood, the rats move into hollows, and if there are none, they build temporary nests in nearby trees. They are not at all afraid of water, swim and dive beautifully (the animals have small swimming membranes on their hind legs), and get food in the water - mollusks, swimming beetles, frogs, and, on occasion, fish. In general, the rat attacks any prey, from insects to pigeons and water voles, which are not inferior in size to the pigeon (it is not for nothing that the vole is better known as the “water rat”). But the latter is much inferior to him in intelligence and dexterity. IN natural conditions Pasyuki usually live in large groups, sometimes in colonies, zealously defending their ancestral territory from strangers. At the same time, family members distinguish their many brothers not “by portrait”. And the point here is not a bad memory - when solving a problem of passing a labyrinth, a Pasyuk can remember a more complex route in his head than a person. The rat identifies “friends” and “strangers” by smell: all members of the colony are blood relatives who constantly maintain physical contact with each other, their smell has a common component. Everything else doesn’t matter: if you keep a pasyuk on bedding left over from someone else’s group, and then release it to its relatives, they will tear it into pieces, sensing a foreign smell. Needless to say, the same fate awaits the real stranger. Violent clashes within the group are also not uncommon, although deaths it almost never happens in them. By the way, their fights are stimulated by nature itself: male pasyuks have an interesting physiological mechanism - after each successful fight, the winning rat grows a little and gains weight (pasyuks, in principle, are capable of growing throughout their lives). And since the outcome of the fight depends primarily on the size ratio of the fighters, the most successful fighters grow until those who want to measure their strength are transferred. Such champions become dominant and the fathers of most rat pups in the group.
In the Urals and central Russia, similar colonies exist in the mode of dacha settlements - they are inhabited only in the warm part of the year; for the winter, rats go to human habitation. They are afraid not of the cold, but of the inability to feed themselves: where there is enough food, the pasyuk calmly endures the most severe frosts. At meat processing plants, rats were repeatedly found in freezers: they lived inside frozen carcasses, eating only meat at a temperature of -18 degrees!

Methods of fighting rats.

So, let's summarize: The Rat is not picky about food, has animal sense and intelligence, reproduces well, is able to climb trees, and sometimes even walls, while it can swim and dive well. The rat's main weapon is its teeth, which can even chew metal. Rats can survive anywhere. They live throughout the entire earth - from the tundra to the jungle (except for Antarctica and uninhabited areas of the Arctic), and due to their unpretentiousness, they adapt to any conditions. This is why fighting rats is very difficult. But thank God, after all, the king of nature on Earth is man and for long history People have come up with quite a lot of “communication” with this “cute city animal” effective ways rodent control.
Of course, it will most likely not be possible to completely exterminate rats and mice, but it is quite possible to reduce the number of rodents to an acceptable level. Here are some of them:

According to the latest data from zoologists, rats are second in number only to insects. And some scientists believe that there are even more rodents. Their numbers are growing steadily, regardless of the wealth of the country they have chosen to live in. In Moscow, according to the most approximate estimates, there are forty rats for every city dweller, including migrant workers. The vitality of the latter is explained by their omnivorousness (we will discuss what rats eat a little later) and the speed of reproduction. But not less important factor is their adaptability, intelligence and intelligence. Thanks to these qualities, rats quite confidently fit into the category of pets, sometimes showing enviable devotion to the owner and the ability to take into account his wishes. And now about everything in more detail and in order.

Features of rat nutrition

Coming up with a list of what rats eat is almost impossible since they eat everything. The only exceptions are absolutely inedible things, although even wires and polyethylene can be chewed and partially swallowed. However, for all their indiscriminateness, rats treat food in the wild quite reasonably. In the wild, they never overeat, so they do not become obese. If a rat is lucky enough to get a high-calorie piece, it eats less food. If what rats eat is low in nutrition, the amount consumed increases accordingly. If there is a lack of some minerals or vitamins in their body, these rodents look for foods with increased content required substance.

It should be noted that rats (domestic or wild - it makes no difference) eat all the time. If you forget to feed your pet for at least two days, it will die. Therefore, in the wild, animals are constantly in search of food, and, if possible, they create reserves.

Taste preferences of wild rats

Despite all the promiscuity of the creatures we are considering, there are some foods that rats like more than others. Thus, if there is a choice between wheat and wholemeal flour, preference will be given to the latter. Although if the grain is thoroughly wet or mixed with odorless vegetable oil, attention will be divided equally between both “dishes”.

Sweets are what rats (both tame and free) eat with special pleasure. Moreover, it doesn’t matter how nutritious the food is, sweetened with saccharin will do. So in this case, it is not the calorie content (and, accordingly, the survival factor), but the taste sensation that is important.

The following fact is noteworthy: what a white rat eats can be categorically rejected by its wild relatives. For example, it is well established that laboratory albinos prefer food with the addition of anise, while ordinary rats diligently avoid it. Moreover, if experimental cubs are fed only food with such additives, and then offered a treat without them, they will not hesitate to change the imposed diet. Scientists believe that the attachment of white rats to these “flavors” is genetic, innate.

What to feed your pet

The diet of a tame animal must be calculated and diversified, because ornamental rats eat everything, like their wild relatives, but they move less, and therefore they can become obese. And if they lack some element, they will not be able to find it on their own. Pet stores sell balanced foods, when developing which manufacturers took into account what domestic rats eat and what they need most. However, you should not limit yourself to only such products if you want to have a healthy animal in the house, and not regularly take it to the veterinary clinic. It is necessary to give your pet boiled meat, seafood and tripe. By the way, even kitten food is suitable. The diet must include vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, turnips, cabbage), berries and fruits. Instead of multivitamins, you just need to feed regularly pet rat greens - lettuce, dandelion and clover leaves, dill. Remember what rats eat in the wild. Cereals, that's right! Grain can be given in in the usual form, but you can germinate. Oat and wheat sprouts are especially useful in this regard - in winter they are a valuable source of vitamin E.

Medicinal products

No matter how hard you try to protect your pets, it is very possible that they will still get sick. In this case, you need to be more careful about what rats eat: some foods will help them overcome illness. So, if your animal is already “aged”, so that it does not suffer from arthritis, add a little garlic and ginger to its food. As a preventive measure, you can give onions, prunes, cranberries, and strawberries. If pet needs antibiotics, before injecting him with medicine, feed the patient better bananas, eggplants, raspberries, plums, the same garlic and onions. You can feed the animal with echinacea decoction.

Vegetables, fruits and other foods that are given little by little

When discussing what rats eat (we are talking exclusively about pets), we should discuss not only the quality of the food, but also its quantity. So, you need to know what food can harm your pets if they receive it regularly and in large doses. Among such products are:

1. Pears. They are fixed, so give no more than once every two weeks.
2. Grape. It can “pull” fermentation along with it.
3. Beet. Diarrhea is almost guaranteed, but if you didn’t experience it the first time, you can give it, because it’s useful. Just don't overdo it!
4. Eggs. Be sure to cook it, it is better to buy quail and offer it no more than once a week.
5. Sour cream. Only as a treat, little by little and with the same frequency.

Poisonous grass

So, we figured out what rats eat. But you also need to have an idea of ​​what is dangerous for them. Especially if your pet has the opportunity to move freely around the apartment, and you are a fan of a home garden. If he can only get potato, cherry, tobacco, and euphorbia leaves from your hands (that is, you just need to check that the animal does not eat them), then he can gnaw indoor flowers without your knowledge. The following house plants are poisonous to rats:

• Dieffenbachia;
• indoor feces;
• azalea;
• begonia;
• ivy (any variety);
• amaryllis;
• cyclamen.

The worst thing is that the rat cannot be forbidden to eat flowers, or hide them so that he cannot get to them. If you have such plants in your house, you will have to keep the animal in a cage.

Prohibited

Some foods are generally contraindicated for these animals, although not as dangerous as herbs. Of the things that rats categorically cannot eat, first of all you need to name And in general, any cheeses are fatty and salty, and therefore lead to obesity in pets. But “blue” can even poison your pet.

Impairs the digestibility of starch. These fruits should only be given to rats when they are ripe.

The green parts of potatoes contain solanine, a fairly strong poison for rats. When cooked it is less dangerous, but when raw it can be fatal.

Raw beans and peas are almost guaranteed to cause flatulence in the animal and, as a result, tympany.

Smoked meats, lard (especially salted), fried meat, sausage - your pet will definitely do without all this. The consequences of regularly feeding such products can be very sad.

Chocolate, candy, cakes and pastries should also be excluded from the rat’s diet. If you want to treat her to something tasty, give her a piece of fruit.

War of rats and mice

Many people who keep rodents at home are interested in whether rats eat mice. In the wild, in the absence of other food, undoubtedly. However, if there is a choice, the rat will eat food that is more interesting to it, although it will kill the mouse - as a competitor. However, if rats appear on the territory, the mice themselves leave it and go in search of other housing.

Illustration copyright Grant Singleton, IRRI

For many of us, the mere sight of these rodents causes disgust, but in some countries, rat dishes take pride of place on the menu.

If you've ever had rats in your house, you know very well: before you go to bed, you need to check if food has been left on the table or somewhere else. Otherwise, the night guests will not be slow to arrive.

The mere suspicion that you have rats is enough to trigger an attack of disgust and a complaint to municipal authorities - for example, New York recently returned to the war against these rodents, declaring a “rat crisis.”

Rats are more important than just food

However, such guests are not always considered uninvited. In some areas of our planet, rats are considered a delicious delicacy.

Every year on March 7, in a remote village hidden at the foot of the Himalayas in northeast India, the Adi tribe celebrates the spring Aran festival. The main dish of the holiday is rats; they can cook them here in different ways and to suit every taste.

The Adi people especially like a stew made from rat stomachs, livers, intestines and other entrails, boiled together with tails and paws with the addition of salt, chili and ginger.

In the tribe, any rodents are respected - both domestic rats and wild ones that live in the forest. Tails and paws are considered especially tasty, says Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow from the University of Oulu (Finland), who studied the food preferences of the Adi people.

Members of the tribe told the Finnish researcher that rat meat is the best, the most delicious.

“They told me: there is no holiday, there is no happiness if there are no rats. In order to properly treat the guest of honor, a dear relative, to celebrate an important event"There must be rats on the table."

Rats are so loved here that they are more important than just food. “Rats (dead ones, of course) are given as wedding gifts so that the bride’s parents won’t be so sad when they see their daughter go to the groom’s house,” says Meyer-Rochow.

On the morning of the first day of the Spring Festival, each child receives two dead rats- much like how on Christmas morning in Western countries children find gifts under the tree.

We know nothing about where this custom and the love for rats in general came from, but Meyer-Rochow is sure that this ancient tradition, which is not at all associated with a lack of food or a lack of choice.

• Illustration copyright Image caption These rats were roasted whole and lightly soaked in a spicy sauce. They are eaten with cassava paste

  However, rats as a dish are respected not only in the hidden corners of India.

  British TV presenter Stefan Gates has traveled the world meeting people whose food preferences are very unusual. In Cameroon, he found a small farm raising cane rats.

  “The size of a small dog, vicious little creatures,” he recalls. They may be evil, but they are so delicious! According to Gates, cane rats are something special, which is why their meat is more expensive than chicken.

  What does it taste like? “This is the most delicious meat I have eaten in my life,” he says.

  Rat meat is similar to pork, only much more tender. Stefan Gates, British TV presenter

  Gates recalls that the rat meat was stewed with tomatoes. “It’s like pork, but much more tender—like slow-cooked pork shoulder,” he says. The unusually tender, delicious stew was juicy and moderately fatty, “literally melting in your mouth.”

  In India, in the state of Bihar, Gates spent some time among the Dalits, members of the untouchable caste. The Indians call those he met rat eaters.

  Dalits worked as harvesters for wealthy landowners in exchange for the right to eat the rats that lived in abundance in the fields.

  Illustration copyright Grant Singleton, IRRI Image caption The smallest cane rat weighs more than 6 kg

  According to Gates, those little rats tasted like chicken or quail.

  The only unpleasant moment was the smell of burnt wool - in order not to lose a single piece of meat or skin, the tiny animal was fried as is, whole, only singeing the wool.

  This made the smell terrible, Gates recalls, and it added a bitter taste to the surface of the meat. “But the meat inside was excellent, very tasty.”

  Delicious rat meat for your table

  The history of eating rats dates back centuries. According to a scientific review from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA), in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), rats were eaten and their meat was called domestic venison.

  One of the delicacies was considered to be newborn baby rats stuffed with honey, which were convenient to eat with chopsticks, the authors of the review write.

  200 years ago the Polynesian rat - close relative an ordinary house rat - was widely eaten (especially in winter) by Polynesians, as well as Maori in New Zealand.

  Illustration copyright Grant Singleton Image caption Freshly cooked rats are sold on the side of a highway north of Bangkok, Thailand.

  According to the New Zealand Encyclopedia, these rats were considered a delicacy, served when an important guest arrived, and were even used as currency, exchanged at all kinds of ceremonies, including weddings.

  Rats are still eaten in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana, China and Vietnam, says Grant Singleton of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

  In Laos, farmers distinguish between at least five types of rats based on their taste.

  Singleton admits to eating rat meat at least six times while in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

  And how does it taste? “In the case of field rice rat, it tastes like game, closer to the taste of rabbit,” he says.

  Singleton also recalls eating rats in the highlands of Laos and in a Myanmar river delta. In Laos, he says, farmers in the north of the country distinguish at least five types of rats based on their taste.

  Illustration copyright Prof S.R. Belmain, University of Greenwich Image caption A man anticipates pleasure as he prepares to eat wild rat(city of Morrumbala, Mozambique)

  In Africa, some peoples have long-standing traditions of eating rats. In Nigeria, for example, the African giant rat is a favorite food among many ethnic groups, says Mojisola Oyarekuah of Nigeria's Ifaki-Ekiti University of Science and Technology.

  “It is considered an exquisite delicacy, and its meat is much more expensive than beef or fish. This rat is eaten fried, boiled, and dried,” he says.

  So why do people eat rats? Do they have nothing else to eat?

  Having tried rat meat in different countries, Gates believes that people simply like the taste of it, and this is not at all due to the lack of other, “normal” food.

  You probably won't be able to order rat meat at your favorite restaurant right now, but as our world becomes more of a global village, it's not hard to imagine that sooner or later rat dishes will find their way onto Western menus.

  Give it a try. You might like it. After all, it’s not for nothing that those who have tried it claim that they have never eaten anything better!

For three days we traveled through a country called Ghana. This is the first country on our trip where hippopotamuses are found in the wild, and also the first where christian religion(about 70 percent of the inhabitants are Christians, but this does not prevent Christians from adhering to ancient cults as well).

Ghana is a former English colony of the Gold Coast; rich gold deposits were discovered on its territory. According to our guide, the river near the city of Sekondi-Takoradi is this color because thousands of illegal miners are still panning for gold along its banks.

Ghana is one of the most economically developed countries Africa. Another former English colony with normal right-hand traffic. Gold mining is still the mainstay of its industry. In second place are cocoa (Ghana, by the way, is the largest supplier of cocoa to the world market) and palm oil. I finally managed to buy a bottle (chocolate from Ghana was also included in my purchases)! Palm oil made from the fruits of the palm tree, which look like this.

Ghana has traditionally been home to one of the most colorful African peoples - the Ashanti. The British were never able to conquer this territory (with the exception of the gold mines), concluding a peace treaty with this territory in 1901 warlike tribe. To this day, the Ghanaian constitution guarantees the participation of traditional kings and chiefs in government.

Ashanti are the most matriarchal people in Africa. They sincerely honor the memory of the legendary Queen Mother Yaawa Asantewa.

Today, women hold almost half of the seats in parliament. In traditional villages, they take care of business and children, while men fish at sea. Pay attention to the inscription on the house.

The whole house is on their shoulders,

and the head of the family is a woman. Apparently, this is the secret to the well-being of this country.

The name of a person has a special place in the culture of the Ashanti people. A newborn baby can only be named a week after birth. Moreover, the first part of the name is the day of the week on which he was born. For example, Ghanaian Kofi Annan was born on Friday (kofi - Friday). And our guide's name was Cosneo (Monday). That is, Robinson acted in his time completely in accordance with ancient African traditions. The second part of the name is related to the weather conditions on the person’s birthday (that is, if there was rain, the corresponding information should be reflected in the name of such a rain person).

Ashanti has a very peculiar attitude towards death. At funerals people wear festive clothes and a festive mood reigns. The deceased is placed in a cheerful coffin, the shape of which is reminiscent of his profession. This is a farmer's coffin with tomatoes on top.

This coffin is a crab for a fisherman.

And this hammer is for a carpenter

Who is this for? We have different opinions))

The capital of Ghana is the city of Accra, the name comes from the local word nkran - ants. Here is a special coffin for a capital resident.

Accra is a large industrialized city, more than 4 million inhabitants and almost Moscow-like traffic.

The city center is very clean and lined with majestic buildings. A landmark of Accra is the mausoleum of the first president, Kwame Nkrumah, who survived two assassination attempts and was overthrown by a military coup.

And a little from the center the whole city is built up with one-story huts. According to our guide, the entire world of boxing grew out of this area.

And this grandiose building was built to house the administration of the state corporation - the Ghana National Lottery, which turned 50 years old. And in Russia, by the way, there is still a discussion about the future of state lotteries.

And the regulator was modestly located next to it. And in Russia, by the way, state regulation of lotteries is carried out by 2 people in one department of the Ministry of Finance.

The beaches of Ghana are considered one of the cleanest and most well-equipped in West Africa.

The coastline is dotted with picturesque forts from Portuguese times.

The cuisine is wonderful, although we never dared try the local dish called fu-fu. It is based on local field rats, which, according to eyewitnesses, reach 15 kg. But tilapia fish with some local side dish made from something growing locally - for both cheeks.

The country is very safe, fairly clean, and the people are friendly.

And the main attraction is considered national park Kukum, where you can look at the jungle from above, moving along rope paths suspended from trees at a height of 40 m, which look very fragile and not new.

But believe me, the pleasure is worth it, the view is absolutely fantastic. There are a great many plants and fruits, which, unfortunately, are 99 percent inedible, and the rest are not tasty. Having completed a special course on survival in the jungle, we can now say this for sure.

Aburi Botanical Garden is famous for its centuries-old trees, it's worth wandering through its rocky savannah.

The currency of Ghana is the cedi, one cedi is divided into 100 pesewas. In the photo - a little more than $10. The local currency, unlike most other countries, depicts not a single ruler, but the political “Big Six” (not to be confused with the African “Big Five” - the dream of every hunter).

Summary: Ghana, by standards West Africa, quite worthy for a full-fledged beach vacation a country with a pleasant climate and friendly people.