AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
As Africans afraid of infected poultry turn to infection-laden "bush meat", here it's.....
Field mice find favor as food
Mouse dealers came from far and wide, carrying cages of different sizes to the house of Nguyen Van Sang, a trader of field mice at the bustling market by Cai Day Bridge in Chau Hung Town, Bac Lieu Province.
Trucks from Dong Thap and An Giang provinces gathered outside to transport the harvest.
Sang is one of the most famous mouse traders in the Chau Hung areas, so people call him “Sang-mouse.” When Sang first began dealing mice more than a decade ago, they weren't as popular as they are now.
Sang said he supplies four to five tons of mice - worth hundreds of millions of dong – every day.
Mice used to be dirt cheap, he said, as they were only bought by python breeders.
But now his buyers include the many bistros and restaurants that have mouse on the menu.
As mouse became a more popular dish, mouse trapping became a more professional occupation.
Hundreds of households are now supported by mouse trapping in the Vinh Loi District of Bac Lieu Province in the Mekong Delta.
Mouse stalls have started to appear at the market alongside the more traditional fish and shrimp stalls.
“I am ready to buy all the mice,” said Tu An, the proprietor of one of the mouse stalls under Ca Mau Bridge.
She said mouse prices usually rose during the Mekong Delta's flooding season so python breeders were often priced out. True enough.
Within 30 minutes, tens of python breeders were shaking their heads with disappointment because they couldn't buy mice at An's stall.
“Mice in the U Minh District are favored most because they are fat but gentle,” An said. “People don't like the kinds of mice that live in forests and are thin and savage.”
Opposite An's stall, another mouse stall was also bustling with customers.
This shop was busier than usual as it had cages of giant mice.
Restaurant chefs are fond of giant mice because of their tasty meat.
“Now people fear bird flu if eating chicken and duck meat and the ‘blue-ear disease' of pigs if eating pork,” said Diem, the owner of a restaurant which specializes in field mouse dishes.
“It's safer to eat mice.”
Diem said her restaurant was becoming busier each day.
Her customers included workers, masons, government officials and business people.
The best-selling dish is the specialty, roasted giant mouse.
Difficult and dangerous
Ca Mau City mouse trapper Ly Lap Xuong said his job was difficult but he had to do it to support his wife and children.
Every night, he sets about 150 traps in rice fields and catches around 50 mice.
He sells the mice to mouse stalls for VND25,000 a kilogram, earning about VND100,000 (US$6.25) a day.
Nguyen Phich Commune mouse trapper Tran Van Hoa agreed to be followed on his rounds.
Hoa left his home in the U Minh District of Ca Mau Province at dusk, carrying 100 mouse traps and a bag of rice.
After walking for more than an hour, Hoa set the first traps of the night, making sure each iron cage had a small amount of rice inside before placing them in bushes.
Hoa obtains the permission of the land owners before setting his traps in a rice field.
As he walks along with his equipment, farmers often call for him to trap mice on their land.
However, every night Hoa is forced to walk further and further from his home because mice are smart enough to soon recognize the danger of trappers' iron cages.
“Every year I catch tens of thou-sands of mice,” Hoa said. “Imagine how many children they would produce if they were still at large and how much of the people's crops they and their off-spring would destroy.”
He said his job was dangerous because snakes also hunt for mice at night.
He's often seen snakes lying in wait outside mouse nests and once he trod on a snake's tail.
Many mouse hunters quit after being bitten by poisonous snakes.
Hoa compared himself to a cat that lives at night and sleeps during the day.
He and his wife didn't receive a good education and don't own land so Hoa's 100 mouse traps support the family of six.
A night's work earns Hoa about VND50,000 to VND60,000.
And Hoa said a night with a bad catch made his journey home seem longer and the cages on his shoulder heavier.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=34583
Field mice find favor as food
Mouse dealers came from far and wide, carrying cages of different sizes to the house of Nguyen Van Sang, a trader of field mice at the bustling market by Cai Day Bridge in Chau Hung Town, Bac Lieu Province.
Trucks from Dong Thap and An Giang provinces gathered outside to transport the harvest.
Sang is one of the most famous mouse traders in the Chau Hung areas, so people call him “Sang-mouse.” When Sang first began dealing mice more than a decade ago, they weren't as popular as they are now.
Sang said he supplies four to five tons of mice - worth hundreds of millions of dong – every day.
Mice used to be dirt cheap, he said, as they were only bought by python breeders.
But now his buyers include the many bistros and restaurants that have mouse on the menu.
As mouse became a more popular dish, mouse trapping became a more professional occupation.
Hundreds of households are now supported by mouse trapping in the Vinh Loi District of Bac Lieu Province in the Mekong Delta.
Mouse stalls have started to appear at the market alongside the more traditional fish and shrimp stalls.
“I am ready to buy all the mice,” said Tu An, the proprietor of one of the mouse stalls under Ca Mau Bridge.
She said mouse prices usually rose during the Mekong Delta's flooding season so python breeders were often priced out. True enough.
Within 30 minutes, tens of python breeders were shaking their heads with disappointment because they couldn't buy mice at An's stall.
“Mice in the U Minh District are favored most because they are fat but gentle,” An said. “People don't like the kinds of mice that live in forests and are thin and savage.”
Opposite An's stall, another mouse stall was also bustling with customers.
This shop was busier than usual as it had cages of giant mice.
Restaurant chefs are fond of giant mice because of their tasty meat.
“Now people fear bird flu if eating chicken and duck meat and the ‘blue-ear disease' of pigs if eating pork,” said Diem, the owner of a restaurant which specializes in field mouse dishes.
“It's safer to eat mice.”
Diem said her restaurant was becoming busier each day.
Her customers included workers, masons, government officials and business people.
The best-selling dish is the specialty, roasted giant mouse.
Difficult and dangerous
Ca Mau City mouse trapper Ly Lap Xuong said his job was difficult but he had to do it to support his wife and children.
Every night, he sets about 150 traps in rice fields and catches around 50 mice.
He sells the mice to mouse stalls for VND25,000 a kilogram, earning about VND100,000 (US$6.25) a day.
Nguyen Phich Commune mouse trapper Tran Van Hoa agreed to be followed on his rounds.
Hoa left his home in the U Minh District of Ca Mau Province at dusk, carrying 100 mouse traps and a bag of rice.
After walking for more than an hour, Hoa set the first traps of the night, making sure each iron cage had a small amount of rice inside before placing them in bushes.
Hoa obtains the permission of the land owners before setting his traps in a rice field.
As he walks along with his equipment, farmers often call for him to trap mice on their land.
However, every night Hoa is forced to walk further and further from his home because mice are smart enough to soon recognize the danger of trappers' iron cages.
“Every year I catch tens of thou-sands of mice,” Hoa said. “Imagine how many children they would produce if they were still at large and how much of the people's crops they and their off-spring would destroy.”
He said his job was dangerous because snakes also hunt for mice at night.
He's often seen snakes lying in wait outside mouse nests and once he trod on a snake's tail.
Many mouse hunters quit after being bitten by poisonous snakes.
Hoa compared himself to a cat that lives at night and sleeps during the day.
He and his wife didn't receive a good education and don't own land so Hoa's 100 mouse traps support the family of six.
A night's work earns Hoa about VND50,000 to VND60,000.
And Hoa said a night with a bad catch made his journey home seem longer and the cages on his shoulder heavier.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=34583