Mouse Served Up On A Platter

Mice remain a specialty in the Mekong Delta, in Vietnam. The locals however, prefer mice that have grown up in the rice fields, making them both grain-fed and organic.

In Southern Africa the Malawian people do not only harvest corn, they also collect nice fat mice. Malawi is one of the poorest nations of the world, with a population of around 12 million people.  They consider it is a real delicacy to eat salted or dried field mice. In the market-place, or at roadside stalls you can see the mice strung on sticks, ready for sale.

Catching the mice is not all that easy, but in one village the locals have created a unique trap. A clay pot is filled with water and the mouth coated with fried corn husks. As the mice skirmish for the husks, the mice fall into the pot and drown.

The type of mouse trap used in Malawi, is thoroughly rejected by the Tumbukan residents, in the neighbouring country of Eastern Zambia.  There it is the task of the young Tumbukan boys to flag down and capture the mice. Hunting mice requires doggedness and enormous ability. The hunters must be able to recognize what sort of hole they are looking at and what type of mouse it is hiding.

Mice such as the Tondo, Kapuku, Mphundu and Mibuli are very difficult to catch. The Sakachulu mice burrow in anthills, but there are also Julungwere, Chitute and Kambinini mice. The Kamzumi mice can have between 25 – 50 mice in a single hole.

The Kambininis, however, can have up to 100 in the same hole. Once you have opened the burrow up how do you catch all 100? The mice take flight in all directions, so there is much confusion among the hunters, as well as among the mice. Both hunters and mice can become victims of the clubs and sticks used.  Sometimes mice, scorpions, stinging ants and snakes all use the same home.

Then comes the smallest mouse of all, the Kabwira. The Tumbukan people firmly believe it is a sign of bad luck if a Kabwira is killed.

If you offered a rat to a Tumbukan person, they would be highly offended. They look on the house rat as being dirty, a carrier of disease, chewer of clothes and destroyer of any valuable household items.  They kill the rat at every opportunity. In a nation where inflation is between 50 – 120% and a pound of beef costs $100, the mouse is yet a highly prized source of seasonal protein.