I knew cooked field rats were eaten in Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam (they look very tasty too), but it seems they’re regarded as a delicacy in African countries like Malawi.

Living in one of the world’s poorest countries, the people of Malawi have to survive any way they can, so when they’re confronted with the choice of eating mice or starving to death, you can guess what they opt for.

Young children chase the “tasty” critters through the corn fields, right after the harvest, when the mice are nice and fat. To easily catch Kapuku, the most popular edible species of mice, locals set up traps throughout the fields. They fill large clay vats with water and smear them with fried corn husks. As the rats fight over the husks, some of them fall in and drown.

The mice are cooked, salted or dried, then strung on sticks and sold as delicacies. Yum!