Find a patch of brush. Light it on fire. Catch all the mice as they race to escape the flames. Toss them into boiling water. Wait. Scoop their wet-soaked scraggly carcass out of the water pot. Jam a dozen between two sticks. Run out to the road. Wait for a passing minibus. Sell for 150-250 Kwacha (USD$1.00-1.75).
I’m told they taste nothing like chicken.
Now I know I’ve written previously about travel and enjoying exotic foods. Well, I’ve met my match. Fried field mouse maybe. Barbeque those babies and we may be in business. Toss the meat into a tomato sauce and serve over nsima or rice. Perhaps. But wet, soggy, whole, boiled mouse. Boiled? Not so much. Maybe it’s just a texture problem.
Especially since the kid next to him is selling fresh roasted and salted ground nuts (aka peanuts).
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ps – hot doug’s would’ve thrown some huckelberry jalapeno compote on those suckers and stuffed ‘em in a bun and sold them for at LEAST 400 kwacha. at least.
when they say there’s no two finer words in the English language than ‘encased meats’ I don’t think the casing is meant to have fur….but if ANYONE could pull it off, Hot Doug’s could.
and so….
did you purchase, or was marty not paying you enough kwacha?
Great photos! I’m assuming the eyes turn white when they are cooked–like some fish do. The “middle of the shish-ko-bob” mice are not well fed (or just young). Makes fried termites–which do taste like chicken–seem tame.
yeh, the eyes do go white which adds a kind of uncanny stare…and yes the 4th down and later seem like tiny snackin’ morsels.
(oops, sorry for the multiple and ungrammatical posts. )
anything worth saying once is worth saying three times three times three times…
As much as I would like to tease you for being a cuilinary wimp, I can’t say I would chow on boiled mouse, either.
Grilled maybe. With some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Do they peel them or just down the whole body and spit out the bones afterwards?
And do they eat them out of choice or necessity? Is it a long-time dish that’s held its appeal? Or just a cheap, available source of protein in an impoverished place?
Dang, where’s Tony Bourdain when you need him?
Really great to read your African posts!
it’s choice. As a snack. A delicacy some say but the price isn’t so steep as to put it in the unreachable category. I believe sometimes they’re consumed with nsima (corn meal basically). But it’s not about protein. I think it started (and this is a total guess) with the simple fact that mice eat stuff in the garden and must be disposed of anyway. They eat them whole, bones and all as far as I can tell. I’ve also heard of them salted and fried.
As much as I would like to tease you for being a cuilinary wimp, I can’t honestly say I would never chow on boiled mouse either.
Grilled maybe.
Do they peel them or just down the whole body and spit out the bones afterwards?
And do they eat them out of choice or necessity? Is it a long-time dish that’s held its appeal? Or just a cheap, available source of protein in an impoverished place?
Dang, where’s Tony Bourdain when you need him?