Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

The price of rat

In Cambodia the price of rat is rising significantly. Per kilo, rat meat has risen 300% since last year. No surprises, food costs are rising everywhere. You’re probably more interested in the fact that people are eating – and paying for – rat meat.

Before Europeans arrived in New Zealand the Pacific rat, or kiore, was a food source and regarded as a delicacy in Māori society. The Settled Landscape theme, to be launched by Te Ara in November, has an entry on kiore, which includes a video clip showing the author, Bradford Haami, munching on the tasty kiore. Probably not for the squeamish.

‘The sweetest meat’

While Europeans didn’t, in general, see the kiore as such a delicacy, in Te Ara’s European exploration entry a nearly starving explorer-cum-goldminer, Alphonse Barrington, tells of throwing a rat on the proverbial barbie: ‘I never picked up a nugget of gold during the last ten years with more satisfaction than I picked him up, put him in the fire, and roasted him just he was, then cut him in three parts, which we pronounced the sweetest bit of meat we ever ate.’

While the kiore is unlikely to make it back to the menu in a hurry, no doubt it would take place of honour at the Hokitika Wild Food Festival.

High in protein

The kurī or Polynesian dog was also eaten, as noted previously in our ‘Dog Tucker’ post, and was a valued food source. (An entry on kurī is upcoming in the Settled Landscape theme too.)
Along with the kiore, it had been introduced by Māori ancestors into a place which boasted no native land mammals of any consequence, hence the value of both for protein.

Time to eat the dog

Seeking to re-introduce dog to the menu, Professor Brenda Vale has co-authored a book called Time to eat the dog. One of her ideas is that pets have a significant carbon footprint – a large dog having the equivalent carbon footprint of a small car. So, for the sake of managing climate change, you should either keep a pet that you can eat, like a pig or sheep, or be prepared to eat the pet you have, like a dog or cat.
Don’t panic, Spot and Tigger are probably safe for the moment. In all probability, Vale’s book is more a lesson from Catchy Book Titles 101. However, if you’re interested in the science surrounding carbon footprints have a look at Te Ara’s entry on Climate change or read about greenhouse gases in the Atmosphere entry.