Anyone for roast rat?

Fancy a rat kebab?

It's rat hunting season in Vietnam which means skewered vermin are back on the menu at a restaurant in Dan Phuong on the outskirts of the Vietnamese captial Hanoi.

 

Rat meat has been considered a delicacy for many years in southern areas of the south Asian country, and the taste for it is spreading.

Previously only eaten regularly by the northern Red River delta and southern Mekong River delta people, the taste for rat meat is spreading.

At this time of year, when rice is harvested, farmers in the south turn to rat hunting to capture the small animals for sale in markets

 

In the southern Mekong delta, hunting is particularly productive during the flood season when rats try to escape from their flooded hearths.

One kilogram of rat meat costs around 100,000 dong, or $4 to $5.

Special ingredient: Slaughtered rats placed on rice straw for roasting in Dan Phuong on the outskirts of Hanoi

Tasty morsel: Rats cooking on an open fire in Dan Phuong on the outskirts of Vietnam's capital Hanoi

Rats, tasty rats, only 100,000 dong for a pair: A Vietnamese vendor disemboweling rats (left) and then selling at a village market (right)

Delicacy: One kilogram of rat meat costs around 100,000 dong, or $4 to $5

Rats on sticks: the vermin are roasted until they are charred before being ready to eat

Barbecue: Thanh, owner of a rat restaurant, roasting rats

Thanh, owner of a rat restaurant, preparing rats to be cooked in Dan Phuong

Dinner's nearly ready: The rats have been skinned, washed and theey now need to be disemboweled

Doing the prep: A couple who run owner of a rat restaurant slaughtering rats

Preparing rats to be cooked by giving them a wash before they're slaughtered

About to be skinned: Eating rat is popular among both Northern Red River delta and Southern Mekong River delta people

A rat being pulled out of a cage at a rat restaurant in Dan Phuong on the outskirts of Hanoi

A rat hunter carrying a bamboo cage with captured rats inside as his teammates placing rat traps in a field in Vietnam's Hoai Duc district

Captured rats in a trap during a hunting trip in a field in the Hoai Duc district

Caught: A man puts a captured rat into a bamboo cage during a hunting trip

A rat hunter looking on as a dog digs a hole during a hunting trip in a field in the Hoai Duc district on the outskirts of Hanoi

Rat hunters placing traps during a hunting trip in a field in the Hoai Duc district on the outskirts of Hanoi