Rat anyone?

[Tiger]

Since rats have not gotten the same attention as maggots, let us begin discussing the eating of rats in modern times. Rats are mammals. They are often found where humans are. Many think they are stupid, but they are not. They are omnivores as we are and often eat what we eat. They also tend to spread filth. Then again, there are different kinds. Apparently a Chinese restaurant in Virginia took the rat on a stick joke a little too far and actually replaced chicken with mountain rat meat. The restaurant was closed down for obvious health code violations. http://www.snopes.com/photos/food/rats.asp

 

Should this practice be against the law? Would anyone care to eat sweet and sour mountain rat instead of sweet sour chicken?

[Nephylim]

Since rats have not gotten the same attention as maggots, let us begin discussing the eating of rats in modern times. Rats are mammals. They are often found where humans are. Many think they are stupid, but they are not. They are omnivores as we are and often eat what we eat. They also tend to spread filth. Then again, there are different kinds. Apparently a Chinese restaurant in Virginia took the rat on a stick joke a little too far and actually replaced chicken with mountain rat meat. The restaurant was closed down for obvious health code violations. http://www.snopes.co...s/food/rats.asp

 

Should this practice be against the law? Would anyone care to eat sweet and sour mountain rat instead of sweet sour chicken?

 

 

I'd give a rat a go if it was cooked properly. I've met enough of them after all... kissed a few

[MikeL]

Yum! I've missed something. Things like rats as food seem gross to most of us, but unusual dinner fare is found in many parts of the world and is often a long standing tradition. I have consumed two foods most people would consider unusual: dog (Korea) and rattlesnake (Oklahoma). The snake, by the way, really did taste like chicken.

[paya]

Yum! I've missed something. Things like rats as food seem gross to most of us, but unusual dinner fare is found in many parts of the world and is often a long standing tradition. I have consumed two foods most people would consider unusual: dog (Korea) and rattlesnake (Oklahoma). The snake, by the way, really did taste like chicken.

 

it's so weird how many things taste like chicken... while being in Paris, I tasted frog legs and they reminded me of chicken wings or squabs (little pigeon) - when I was little, my father kept pigeons in the dovecote

[MikeL]

it's so weird how many things taste like chicken... while being in Paris, I tasted frog legs and they reminded me of chicken wings or squabs (little pigeon) - when I was little, my father kept pigeons in the dovecote

 

 

but rats... I'm not sure I'd taste rats... maybe if I didn't know what I was eating...

Frogs legs? ACK! I thought Europe was more civilized.

[paya]

Frogs legs? ACK! I thought Europe was more civilized.

 

Come on! When you're in France you have to taste their specialty (that no one except tourists eats... )

[Nephylim]

I'd choose frogs legs over snails any day.

[paya]

I'd choose frogs legs over snails any day.

 

Snails are... small... you even don't know what you're eating... well yeah, you know but it's just a tiny bit of something that tastes of in what it was marinated (usually pepper and basil I think), it's just the feeling, or "knowing" what you're eating... maybe if I knew somewhere they have rats as a local specialty, I would taste it... they certainly know how to prepare them not to smell like rats (and who cares about the fur with all the crap - you don't eat chicken with its worms in the feathers either)

[Kia Zi Shiru]

I'd choose frogs legs over snails any day.

 

I actually ate snails last christmas, and yeah, you don't really taste them, but you do "feel" them... they have an elastic structure.

 

My dad and I still want to eat insects and yeah, I think I'd like to try marinated rat some day.

[Conner]

...... you don't eat chicken with its worms in the feathers either)

 

I always remove the worms first.

 

Shouldn't we be discussing the good things rats do for us, like the maggots? Think of all those lab rats that have sacrificed themselves for mankind.

 

Your common rat also generates a great deal of employment....in the way of pest control companies.

[MikeL]

it's so weird how many things taste like chicken... while being in Paris, I tasted frog legs and they reminded me of chicken wings or squabs (little pigeon) - when I was little, my father kept pigeons in the dovecote

Come on! When you're in France you have to taste their specialty (that no one except tourists eats... )

I'd choose frogs legs over snails any day.

Slaughterous barbarians!

Edited October 14, 2009 by MikeL

[paya]

Slaughterous barbarians!

 

OOOOOOHHH! I'm stupid! Now I get it! I'm SOOOO sorry to hurt your feelings MikeL! I really am! I blame peer pressure!

 

 

 

 

You know what? I decided I'll make a donation to a NGO providing wheelchairs to frogs!

 

 

Edited October 14, 2009 by paya

[Mark Arbour]

Mike,

 

You may want to avoid visiting France.

[Mark Arbour]

From "Men-of-War, Life in Nelson's Navy" by Patrick O'Brian:

 

If their food had been good in the first place and if it had been honestly served out and decently cooked, it would not have been too bad by the standards of the time; but generally this was no the case. Indeed, it was usually so bad that when they could catch them, the men often ate rats, or millers as they were called in the service, because of their dusty coats as they got into the flour and dried peas. They were neatly skinned and cleaned and laid out for sale: hungry midshipmen would buy them too, and Admiral Raigersfeld, looking back on his youth, says, "They were full as good as rabbits, although not so large."

[Arpeggio]

Er.... I have a pet rat, I don't think I could eat one.

[Nephylim]

Slaughterous barbarians!

 

 

Bring it on. En guarde. (if I win do I get to eat you )

[Benji]

Yum! I've missed something. Things like rats as food seem gross to most of us, but unusual dinner fare is found in many parts of the world and is often a long standing tradition. I have consumed two foods most people would consider unusual: dog (Korea) and rattlesnake (Oklahoma). The snake, by the way, really did taste like chicken.

 

.........I too, have consumed food in parts of the world that find it norm. But might be considered gross here, I've eaten, dog, monkey, cat (did not like cat). I've had snake, bird nest soup (yep, they use a real birds nest) escagot, and as far as frog legs go not only have I eaten them many times, I must have prepared thousands of them when I was working at the Hilton International! Hmmm! My palate is lacking in goat though!

[MikeL]

You know what? I decided I'll make a donation to a NGO providing wheelchairs to frogs!

Bless you.

 

You may want to avoid visiting France.

I already do.

 

.........I too, have consumed food in parts of the world that find it norm. But might be considered gross here, I've eaten, dog, monkey, cat (did not like cat). I've had snake, bird nest soup (yep, they use a real birds nest) escagot, and as far as frog legs go not only have I eaten them many times, I must have prepared thousands of them when I was working at the Hilton International! Hmmm! My palate is lacking in goat though!

Barbaric practices have crossed the Atlantic like plague-infested rats.

[JamesSavik]

I love frogs legs! It sounds scary but it's a lot like a cross between white breast meat of chicken and a drum-stick.

 

Rat is not so good but a lot of it is perception. Once it is skinned and roasted, you are hard pressed to distinguish it from squirrel.

 

I had rat and several other... alternative menu items some years ago during survival school back in the old daze.

 

DO NOT- I REPEAT- DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT POSSUM OR ARMADILLO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Possum is WAY WORSE than rat and carry many diseases plus they play dead and have an evil bite that is highly infectious. Armadillos carry the bacteria that cause Hanson's disease (leprosy).

 

Of course rattus vulgaris can carry many diseases, you're probably not eating one because you have a big selection.

[MikeL]

I love frogs legs! It sounds scary but it's a lot like a cross between white breast meat of chicken and a drum-stick.

What is this world coming to? Now the sweet, lovable Mississippians are adopting the diets of "old Europe". I thought James of all people would steer clear of the "one world" culture. I have to blame Obama for this. That's not a political comment, just an observation.

[JamesSavik]

Frogs legs are a southern delicacy and can be found all along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas.

[MikeL]

Frogs legs are a southern delicacy and can be found all along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas.

Shhh! You didn't have to advertise it. I have relatives along the Gulf Coast.

[Tiger]

Shhh! You didn't have to advertise it. I have relatives along the Gulf Coast.

You are hereby cordially invited to dinner.