(WARNING- THIS ARTICLE WILL BE CONSIDERED OFFENSIVE- APOLOGIES TO ALL WHO READ BUT THE AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGES HIS IGNORANCE WHILE STILL FEELING THE NEED TO RANT)
The title of this blog refers to the scientific name applied to what is commonly known as the Greater Cane Rat. According to Wikipedia "it inhabits Africa, south of the Saharan Desert, lives by reedbeds and riverbanks, and can grow about two feet long weighing a little less than 19 lb (8.6 kg)." In other words this rat can kick any NYC rat's ass!! People who grow up in NYC are well aware of the rat infestation problem. A bestselling nonfiction book called Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants recounts how these little guys actually run NY. On any given day, whether it be extremely late at night or early in the morning (in most cases both, depending on your point of view) we have all seen these furry friends scampering about the train tracks, sometimes being bold enough to join us on the platform.
Everyone reacts differently to these creatures. Some are horrified, some tolerant, and some think they would be fun to play with in a lab (so they take them to the leading scientific institutes and feed them cocaine, make them run mazes, and sometimes open their brain and attach electrodes to understand numerous biological mechanisms). The rare new yorker will actually think them cute, and want to take one home and keep it in a glass cage. But, I have yet to hear a friend, random passerby, or acquantance look at one of these little guys and say, "dinner!"
But two weeks ago I went to see a movie called "No Time To Die" which featured an important dinner scene where the entree was Thryonomys swinderianus or as it was called in the film, Grasscutter. Now what was particularly great about the choice of cane rat for dinner in the movie was how special it was to eat. If rat were to become a regular menu item in NYC, I would imagine it to sit alongside cart food or Gray's Papaya Hot Dogs. You know, cheap and not healthy. But in the film, the main character secured this dish to be cooked at a betrothing dinner. He searched for the finest grasscutter so that the girl of his dreams was sure to remain faithful to him. As the character's licked their grasscutter covered fingers, it was clear this was a meal to remember and Asante (the main character) had in all respects "sealed the deal" with the woman of his dreams.
Over a hundred years ago, Lobster was considered peasant food. As a bottom dweller of the sea, lobster was salted and canned and fed to the poor. It is a testament to marketing and clarified butter that we now are willing to pay high prices at the finest restaurants to eat what was once given to the destitute. So, it got me thinking. Maybe we are looking at the whole rat problem in NYC from the wrong vantage point. Imagine a NYC where rats are served only at five star restaurants and the girl you are taking to Rue Rodente for the friday night date is expecting you to propose to her, because there would be no other reason to take her out for such fine food? It sounds like a win-win situation to me? But first, we need to feed our rats what those grasscutters get in Africa.
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