San (3) Eeek - Not for the faint of heart!

So I was sitting with one of my Chinese friends who often has to travel to South China and he told me a story about San Eeek that has given me day-mares for the past two weeks.

He began by telling me that when he was down there they eat some really WEIRD things.  He said one time he had to eat crickets.  There was a platter that had different compartments in it.  Crickets, Larvae, etc.  He said they gave him a hard time saying, “Oh, you are from the North we don’t think you can eat our food.”  

So naturally, he had to eat some.  He said they tasted ok, but it was just kind of nasty when you could feel their legs in your mouth.  However, the grossed thing they ate down there was called “San Eeek”.  

Now for those of you who don’t know, they speak a different dialect of Chinese in the South and it is completely different.  Now I knew that “San” meant “3”, but I thought that “Eeek” must be a Southern word.  What he told me sent shivers down my spine, and has haunted me for several weeks now.

He told me that San Eeek is live baby rats/mice they eat when they are still pink.  They make one sound (eeek) when you pick them up with your chopsticks, a second eeek when you dip them in the spices, and a third eeek when you eat them!  3 Eeeks!   Yuck!

Now maybe they were pulling his leg, or maybe not, but I really don’t think I could handle that!  He said it probably came from a time of famine that people started eating it.  Probably right.  Thankful I have grown up in a place and time that didn’t have to go through that.

James

For additional reading http://ramblelust.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/eating-baby-mice-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Csan-zhi-er%E2%80%9D-aka-three-screams/