🐭✨ Rat's on the menu! Wait, what?

Xin chào! It's Emma! My hometown in Hanoi’s countryside is famous not just for its intricate craft villages but also for… *rat meat*? Yup, you heard that right! 🐀🍽️

Back home, when the rice harvest is over, locals head to the rice fields in Ha Nam and Ninh Binh to hunt rats. Why? These little troublemakers destroy crops, so catching them is like a double win—saving the fields and preparing for a feast! 🎉

How do we catch them?

✔️ Dig burrows

✔️ Pour water into the burrows

✔️ Smoke out the burrows

Each trip can bring in around 10-15kg of rats. And no, these aren't your city-dwelling pizza thieves; these are rice-fed country rats, practically gourmet. 😅

Now, let’s talk prices!

🐖 Pork? 120k/kg (~$5)

🐄 Beef? 250k/kg (~$10)

🐀 Rat meat? 150k/kg (~$6) – It's even more expensive than pork!

The dishes? Absolutely next-level:

🌿 Boiled rat with lime leaves on top

🔥 Grilled rat cooked “giả cầy” style (like mock dog meat, traditionally made with pork or other meats, flavored with galangal, turmeric, and fermented rice).

🍖 Fried rat marinated with spices

Some of these rats are as big as your forearm. Not kidding. 💪 And before you say “Eww,” let me tell you—it's loved all over Vietnam, from north to south. Don't knock it until you've tried it!