February 27, 2004

BATTAMBANG, CAMBODIA (Reuters) - Bird flu may have decimated poultry businesses across Asia, but in Cambodia at least rat dealers have never had it so good.

In the western provincial town of Battambang, a constant stream of customers crowd around rat meat vendors who say they have doubled their sales since the bird flu outbreak hit Cambodia.

With customers shy away from chicken for fear of catching the deadly flu virus which has killed millions of birds and at least 22 people in Asia, restaurants are offering rat meat dishes instead.

Restaurant-owner Chai Sarwen says customers are no longer eating poultry as they are scared of catching the virulent disease.

"People now eat rat meat in my restaurant instead of the chicken, because chickens have bird flu," Sarwen said after stocking up with bags of rat meat in the morning.

In far-flung corners of the jungle-clad and impoverished southeast Asian nation, rat -- fried, grilled or roasted with garlic and vegetables -- is a highly prized delicacy, fetching around 40 cents a kilogram.

Now prices are soaring as bird flu pushes usually popular chicken off the menu, and vendors can't believe their luck.

"I sell about 100 kgs per day now. It's worth about 1400 baht ($35.93)," she said.

Spiders, water beetles, crickets, snakes, frogs and ants are all choice treats in rural Cambodia, with local tradition saying they were first eaten by starving peasants during the Khmer Rouge genocide in the 1970s.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/02/26/news/funny/rat_meat.reut/index.htm