Rats aint' kangaroos, Sir...

Rats eat stuff like raw, rotting sewerage and old lamb chops, in filthy, suburban garbage dumps.

Hell, once in my country, I even had a small fire in my apartment, because a rat ate my friggin' electrical cable!

Tasty!

Kangaroos, on the other hand are wonderfully-bouncy, agrarian folk, who munch on various organic grasses, poo frequently and liberally, and basically stick their noses up at low-riding, low-grovelling heavy metal marsupial gang-bangers, such as rats.

If Orwell had included Kangaroos in his agrarian dystopia, 'Animal Farm', I am sure they would be discussing French philosophy and sipping chardonnay, whilst admonishing the discrepancies of laissez faire economics.

I ate roasted Rat, and also roasted Dog, in Siem Reap 5 or so years back...

The rat was quite good, but the dog was bitter, and made me seriously ill (only ate a speck, as part of a dare with a group of tourists, but we were drunk as hell).

The restaurant I ate the dog at, was curiously situated in an urban area which had dozens of street dogs milling around the restaurant.

When I asked the restaurant owner where he got the dogs from, of course he assured me they came from a farm which was far away, and were very clean and hygienic (yeah, right, that's what they all say).

So, to cut the chase, the rat is a filthy, but highly-intelligent bottom feeder of the lowest possible order, whilst the kangaroo, sir, is basically a bouncing, yuppy farm-dwelling communist, which is far safer to pop in a curry, or fry with some pomme gratin.

Also, I think it's highly likely the rats you saw, came from the lovely gutters of the lake area, as it would be more economical to just catch them here, and I can't see any ennobled reflections on food hygiene being an obstacle to selling the critters off as as exotic regional delicacy from the pristine, outer reaches of the country.

My name is HappyDaysAreHere, and I have had my say,
HappyDaysAreHere

That would be the famous Rat Pack.

Rats are thrown over the walls of large villas and then....imagine your surprise, the Rat Pack turns up on your door a few days later and says " Excuse me sir I happened to be in the neighbourhood and was wondering if you have a rat problem ?. I happen to be a rat catcher !"

Villa Owner lets them in, the Rat Pack have the rats so well trained the rats will come to a whistle and hey presto, the owner is so impressed the Rat Pack are put on monthly retainer.

Well known scam.

THE KID

big story in the Cambo Daily last week about the rat trade - can't recall the details but it was something like 3.5 tonnes a day from one rural market alone being caught in the fields and sold, the best ones are shipped over to Vietnam for eating, the poorer quality ones here are sold for food. ironically the rat seller interviewed said she was happy to be selling and eating rats as they are such 'clean' animals, not spreading disease like chickens and pigs....obviously hasn't heard of THE PLAGUE....!!

Happydaysarehere, the rat you ate in SR that you say was good, was almost certainly farm raised.

They love them in Northeastern Thailand where they raise white one until they are nice and plump, and then roast them sitting around a fire and drinking rice liquor. These rats don't eat from sewers or trash cans, they're raised on rice or whatever they give small farm animals. I haven't tried them, but I see no reason they shouldn't be good.

I once ate stewed agouti (sort of a cross between a rabbit and a rat) in Ivory Coast, West Africa, and it wasn't very good, but neither was anything else I had in that rural part of the country.

I'm sure there are rat farms in Cambodia as well, and that if you know where to go, you can buy the eating kind here in Phnom Penh. I think your average city dweller would have to be very very hungry to eat a street rat.

Saw more rat motos on the riverside yesterday,is this rat season or what?
Surely there would be a a plague of rats at the end of the harvest season,not the beginning.
Is it because the meat is cheaper and people are hurting?

Yes, yes, yes, it is same here as in Vietnam and Thailand ... rat meat is the new beef for the cash strapped.

Haven't you guys also read in the newspapers about dogs being increasingly kidnapped, and barbaqued on a spit?

In fact, I have a recipe I would like to share in this regards:

Juicy Stray Dog Steaks and Rice Wine

- One plump, diseased street-mut, preferably with intestinal maggots (for added piqueness) and rotting teeth
- barbeque with rice wine, until deliciously tender
- invite your friends

HDAH