Video: Thailand’s rice field rat hunters
Bloomberg's Businessweek has trailed one of Thailand's rat hunters into the rice fields to see how he catches a "sought-after delicacy": rodent meat.
Since this is Bloomberg, there's a financial angle: on a particularly lucrative night, the catcher can collect 10 kilos of dead rats and sell his catch for $60.
That's good money. A cashier, motorbike taxi driver or security guard in Bangkok can expect to take home somewhere between $8-10 per day.
But is rodent really a "sought-after delicacy" in Thailand? Perhaps in some circles, but this is still a fringe food available alongside major highways.
If you want to find rat meat on a menu in Bangkok, or even upcountry urban centers, you're going to have to hunt. (Frogs and red ant eggs, however? Much easier to score.)
By the way, according to the sign at the roadside grilled rat stall, the vendors also sell another field-dwelling delicacy: cobra.