Rat meat - A special dish in the midst of the epidemic

At markets in Malawi, rat meat dish is gradually becoming more popular than ever. They are seasoned and dried. 

Rats are becoming a kind of food providing an important protein source in Malawi, a country in Eastern South Africa. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lack of food here is increasingly more serious and the economy becomes difficult. 

Vendors stand in long lines along the main highway entering the two biggest cities in Malawi, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. They take with them the grilled rat meat skewers to offer customers. 

Selling dried rat meat in Malawi. 

The rat is seasoned with spices, grilled to a crispy, or sold as food at many street stalls, traditional markets across Malawi. 

Malnutrition and food insecurity are a perennial problem in this small country where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. The breakout of Covid-19 caused almost infectious 5.500 cases, taken the lives of over 170 people which make the situation of lacking food more seriously. 

For a hunter of rats as Bernard Simeon, the pandemic makes his life more difficult. "Everything becomes more difficult. We must rely on rats to complement diet because of having not enough money to buy meat", Simeon said. 

Many farmers in Malawi were forced to burn bushes to find rat-holes and set traps. This caused fear about destroying the ecosystem. Experts comment that even after the pandemic is controlled, the meat of rat remains a source of important food of almost people here.