Residents of Canh Nau Village in Thach That, an outlying district of Hanoi, have a market that is well-known for selling rats in the afternoon.
Rat barbecue
There are a number of local dishes that have rat as the main ingredient.
"Today I went through three communes catching rats. It's usually easier to catch them during the harvest," said Hoa, a local rat trapper.
He said that his total catch was around 4 kilos, and he can sell them for around VND100,000 (USD4.75) per kilo.
According to Hoa, the process of catching these rodents involves an iron spade, a net, a basket of water and an iron cage.
“To keep the rat alive, trappers need to find and block all the secondary exits of their hole. Then you have to cover the main hole with a net," he shared.
Some experienced trappers travel dozens of kilometres per day, and can catch dozens of kilos of rats in one day day.
At 4pm, the market is regularly filled with a dozen of bamboo baskets of rats, which have often gone through a bit of processing.
Some merchants sell the animals live, and are willing to skin rats upon consumers’ demand.
It takes them jus a few hours to sell all their trappings; demand is rising.
Huong, a rat merchant, said, “Nowadays, more and more people know how to make rat dishes. In the old days only residents in Canh Nau were familiar with these dishes. Now, though, those who live in the surrounding areas are becoming interested.”
Special rat dishes