i've lived in southern appalachia my whole life, in the same tiny holler. most of my family has done the same and within my family and community, grats is a staple food.
we eat grats maybe once a week at most, sometimes not that often. but its really good. maybe just folk medicine but everybody i know swears to hell and high water that its the be all end all for hangover cures.
if you don't know what grats are, its grits (the corn product) and rats (rats). usually you grill the rats and then serve them with the grits. really good with cheese and in my community you usually cut up the rat meat and mix it into the grits.
the problem is that i am in my first semester of college, here on a scholarship and a fuckton of financial aid. and when i mentioned grats to a friend who isn't from the south she was really freaked out. she said "you guys eat rats? isn't that unsanitary?" and was really judgemental. she told our other friends and they had the same reaction.
well its not rats that are diseased and living in the city or whatever. its field rats, they're completely different. they taste sweet like rabbit and are perfectly clean once you cook them.
is this just a cultural difference? when i was a kid my grandma used to say that grats is something that came from mexico originally. she said that in mexico in indigenous populations eating rats has been traditional for forever and it moved up north to us and when it hit appalachia we did what we do with everything else and said "let's eat it with grits"
they're really good when coated in cornmeal and fried, which is also how we eat our snake meat.
how have my friends never heard of this? have any of yall heard of grats?
Hey bro stop telling people you eat rats, thank me later.
Aaron Richardson
So they are just cooked rodents? Im from Eastern Europe googled where the southern appalachia is. If this food is easily accessible to you then there is nothing wrong with it. My father and grandma used to tell me how our ancestors had nothing and all the food came from ground.
There is nothing wrong with but many people will find it weird because all of their lives they spend in ulimited amout of food supply.
Xavier Moore
yes, cooked rats. rats are definitely everywhere in appalachia in general, they're kind of a problem and maybe this was a solution of my ancestors, two birds with one stone as they say.
thank you for being understanding, this has me feeling really insecure. i guess it is just a cultural thing. appalachia in general is very secluded and is known for having its own sort of culture within america (also for being the poorest place in america) so i'm not really surprised that people from outside don't know about things like this.
i don't know how common it is outside of my corner of appalachia but it could be that people just don't talk about it for reasons like this
Dylan Reed
yeah maybe keep this to yourself OP
Jackson Clark
Bro I am in eastern KY and I didn’t think people still ate rats unless they were homeless or dying.
Jason Nelson
> snake meat > appalachia
you're a snake handler, aren't you user
Juan Reed
do you live in a rural area? the place where i am from is very rural, maybe that's it. though i am beginning to realize that maybe this is a mostly my community/family thing, as i have only one other friend from (also southern) appalachia who has heard of grats.
Thomas Walker
no, i'm not, although i get that a lot so kudos for being original lol. nah i can't really judge for the assumption, i understand why people go there when they hear where i'm from
also like an hr down the road there was a snake handler church so there's that
Eli Parker
Eating rats, OP? You sure you aren't in Thailand or some shit
Jackson Smith
Sound fine to me. I'm from New Jersey so I can't say I've ever tried it myself, but meat is meat, and it's not like you're eating diseased rats.
I've heard that deer, alligator, rabbit, squirrel and bison meat all tastes pretty good, but with poultry, cow and pig meat being the most "mainstream" is a lot of places (atleast in the US), stuff like this is bound to sound a bit odd to some folks. But I'm sure that eating a grilled rat isn't too different than cracking open a lobster or slicing into the ground up meat of a cow once to get used to it.
Samuel Johnson
>the problem is that i am in my first semester of college, here on a scholarship and a fuckton of financial aid. and when i mentioned grats to a friend who isn't from the south she was really freaked out. she said "you guys eat rats? isn't that unsanitary?" and was really judgemental. she told our other friends and they had the same reaction. She's clearly never heard of Rocky Mountain Oysters, either. Boy, do I have a story from my vet shadowing days for you.
Ian Hughes
I'm from Georgia and I've never heard of grats. Fuck man, you should have known eating rats wasn't normal. When have you ever heard someone talking about eating rats besides your family?
Sebastian Martin
What's the difference between rat and squirrel anyway?
Jordan King
Pennsylvania bro here. I've never heard of anyone around here eating rats, but OP pic related looks pretty tasty. I'd try one if I ever visited your town
Juan Scott
Virginia here (suburbfag though). I have heard of people eating squirrels in the rural parts, but this is the first time I've seen anything about eating rats. What the fuck?
Thomas Mitchell
>is this just a cultural difference? Yes Don't forget that our fine fool lobster is really a giant ocean bug >have any of yall heard of grats? Nope I'm from Idaho. We also don't eat chitlins or collard greens. But I've often eaten sweetcorn, green peppers, tomatoes, watercress or berries right out of the field and had city people freak out. They truly have no idea where food actually comes from.
Nathaniel Sanchez
>I'd try one if I ever visited your town Agreed
Nathaniel Mitchell
Basically this. But welcome to classism OP, it's gonna follow you everywhere.
Luke Hughes
Fuck yea what up NJ bro. I think the same thing I tear into bone in chicken pork and blue crab.
