The price of rat meat has quadrupled in Cambodia this year as inflation has put
other meat beyond the reach of poor people, officials said on Wednesday.
With consumer price inflation at 37 percent according to the latest central
bank estimate, demand has pushed a kilogram of rat meat up to around 5,000 riel
(69 pence) from 1,200 riel last year.
Spicy field rat dishes with garlic thrown in have become particularly popular
at a time when beef costs 20,000 riel a kg.
Officials said rats were fleeing to higher ground from flooded areas of the
lower Mekong Delta, making it easier for villagers to catch them.
"Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the
markets, but they keep some for their family," Ly Marong, an agriculture
official, said by telephone from the Koh Thom district on the border with
Vietnam.
"Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese
living on the border with us."
He estimated that Cambodia supplied more than a tonne of live rats a day to
Vietnam.
Rats are also eaten widely in Thailand, while a state government in eastern
India this month encouraged its people to eat.
===============================================================
Gallery sued over 'Jesus with erection'
An art gallery in Britain which exhibited a statue of Jesus Christ with an
erection has been taken to court by a devout Christian who says she is offended
by the work and argued that the gallery would "not have dared" to portray
Mohammed, let alone in that way.
The artwork was part of an exhibition at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in
Gateshead, near the northeastern city of Newcastle, which featured dozens of
plaster figures including Mickey Mouse, ET, and Jesus - all with erections.
The items were shown in a presentation a year ago of works by controversial
Chinese artist Terence Koh.
Signs warning of the exhibition's content were posted at the entrance to the
gallery, which was sued at Gateshead Magistrates Court for a breach of Section
5 of the Public Order Act and offending public decency.
Lawyers for Emily Mapfuwa, a 40-year-old Christian who said she was offended by
the artwork, prosecuted the gallery for outraging public decency and causing
harassment alarm and distress to the public.
Mapfuwa argued that, given the public sensitivities over the issue, the gallery
would not have dared to depict Mohammed, let alone in such a way.
Mapfuwa said she believed in freedom of expression, but was of the opinion that
"this statue served no other purpose than to offend Christians and to denigrate
Christ."
The maximum penalty would be six months in prison and a fine of 5,000 pounds
($A10,596).
However, opening procedures faltered on a legal technicality Tuesday and the
case was adjourned until September 23.
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