Over a cup of coffee, my friends were bragging about their expedition to some place to taste some exotic wild life. Terrapins, flying fox, squirrels and other animals. Some said that it was disgusting, some said it was good. I guess these are things people miss out when they dont have a real kampung. Then started telling my stories back in kampung where these wild life were freshly harvested at our own backyard.
Cute squirrels were gunned down by my uncle's shotgun with me playing the role of the hunting dog where I go collect the fallen critters. After half an hour of harvesting, i would be carrying about 10 squirrels from their bushy tails. Remove the fur from the tails, and these cute squirrels become a rat. So those guys who have squirrels as their pets, are just rearing a rat with a bushy tail. My mom would then do the skinning and slicing then start cooking them with authentic Nyonya recipes. I personally do not like eating squirrels coz they dont have much flesh. Taste wise, they taste like chicken. Then we had to chew the meat carefully, removing shotgun pellets which are just bigger ball bearings from our mouths.
Didnt really have the chance to taste freshly harvested flying fox cause by the time I was born, the flying foxes in the area were already extinct. Had to blame my mom and the family for not reserving any for me. Even a wandering pangolin or porcupine that was seen wasnt spared. The scales of the pangolin and thorns of the porcupine are still available at the ancestral home.
What interests me more than the food was how these animals are caught. My dad was expert at laying booby traps that would catch these animals. Ayam hutan, biawak and other wild life had fallen to him. Taught me once the art of fixing a trap for birds and i tried it on my uncle's poultry. The trap worked pretty well, catching the rooster by its feet and flinging it up. My excitement and joy didnt last long though as my uncle found out what I was doing and gave me a thrashing.
After writing this, I suddenly feel like going on a hunting expedition to revive my childhood days.
2 comments:
now u know why we need WWF and such organisations...because of monster like this lurking every corner waiting to pounce on hapless little animals just to fill their tummy which will probably be asking for more food in 2 more hours...sacrficed to feed ur existence for 2 mere hours
Neo... that is a lousy idea.
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