Freaky Feast: Field rats cooked adobo style

Oh no we didn’t!

But yes, we did. We went to a dense forest in Ilocos, hunted for field rats with a dog, and cooked those for dinner, adobo style. In Ilocos Norte, this dish is called bau ti taltalon or — you guessed it — rat adobo.

Local tricycle drivers from Laoag City acted us guides in this adventure. From the city proper, we drove for about 20 minutes to Baksil North to pick up local hunters Maning and Harry and a dog named Labang. It’s also where we’d be hunting t for “mountain rats.”

We usually think of rats as disgusting — and rightly so — because they are commonly found in sewers or garbage cans.

Not these ones.

According to the locals of Baksil North, these field rats are clean because they live in bamboo trees and eat only bamboo sprouts.

These rodents are a common ingredient in Baksil North dishes. The locals said they usually eat it with rice or they munch it while drinking beer with friends.

It is part of their culture.

We spent around one hour searching for our food. The forest was infested with mosquitoes and there was no proper trail.

Thanks to the hunting skills of Labang, we got three fat rats. Seeing the rodents made us feel uneasy. Luckily, they looked different from the ones that we usually on the streets of Manila: Their hair was thicker and they didn’t smell bad.

It was uncomfortable watching the hunters cut up and clean and the rat meat. However, when other ingredients were added and the meat started looking like chicken adobo, the challenge got easier.

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