Rat meat is not food to most people, but not to some in Battambang, Cambodia’s second-largest city. Without surprise, the province is widely known for its producitivty rice output, where rice fields are home to rats. And During the Khmer Rouge era, from 1975 to 1979, most Cambodians got used to this delicious food.

And with rice comes rats – grain-fattened paddy rats that connoisseurs say are delicious barbecued, boiled or roasted in a heady mixture of lemongrass, turmeric and garlic.
‘The last rice has just been harvested, so the rats are ready. They are coming onto the market now, and the next three months while they are in season are very good business for us,’ says restaurateur Chhrut Hen, 24.