Oh, Rats: It’s More Nouvelle Cuisine

PEKING —  The only way to fight China’s growing rat problem is to open rat meat restaurants and promote the rodents as a gourmet dish, according to the Economic Information newspaper.

An estimated 3 billion to 4 billion rats eat 15 million tons of grain a year in China, and annual pest-control drives have failed to stop the damage, the newspaper said in an article quoted by China Daily on Saturday.

The article said people must realize that that rats are an important resource and that they should be hunted for meat and skins.

“Unfortunately, the delicious and highly nourishing rat meat has thus far escaped the notice of most gourmets,” the paper said.

Peasants in the south and west of China have long considered rats a delicacy, the paper continued, but most Chinese would need time to accept them as a regular part of their diet.

An earlier article in the paper suggested that restaurants could specialize in rat meat. Disease-carrying rats are a minority and could easily be detected, the newspaper said.

“Large-scale eating of rat meat will bring immense benefits to the Chinese people and the country,” the paper said.