This is a question that falls under the ‘random thought that refuse to leave your head’ catagory. Basically, the idea of people eating rats due to other food being unavailable is an established trope in fiction and even occasionally in real life and for some reason I found myself wondering if it was actually a reasonably good choice from a nutritional perspective or if it was a food of last resort for reasons other then the inherant squick factor of eating rodents.
Well, squirrel isn’t bad at all. http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-squirrel-i17184
Can’t imagine that rat is all that different.
(And my daughter’s pet rats eat better than I do, even counting all the begging for treats they do.)
Eating town rats is to be avoided simply because they eat human garbage. They are likely to have consumed pesticides, heavy metals, human excrement and all sorts of other garbage that you really don’t want to be eating.
Rats also carry a variety of parasites, but they aren’t especially worse in that regard than most other wild animals including many that are routinely eaten. The worst of the rat parasites is probably bubonic plague, and since fleas abandon their hosts once the body temperature starts to fall, you are increasing you exposure to that by eating rat. However is the parasite in found in the local rat population you have [probably been exposed anyway.
But if you could secure a supply of rats that hadn’t been eating human garbage, there’s no reason not to eat them. They are a perfectly good source of protein. I’ve eaten bush rat, not the same species as town rats, and it’s very nice meat, somewhat like rabbit or a heavily flavoured pork. I would guess that town rats would have a very similar flavour.
IOW, there’s nothing inherently wrong with rats as a food. The problem is what the rats have been eating.
I’m not an expert in “rabbit starvation” but I don’t think you can eat rat (lean protein) exclusively. You would need a second source of calories in your meals.
Obligatory semi-accurate quote from one of Terry Pratchett’s books:
“Rat alone costs 25 pence and Rat with ketchup costs 50 pence? Huh? Why does the ketchup cost as much as the Rat?”
“You ever had Rat without ketchup?”
Make sure you use your Rat Stick