Since the price of pork surged to a record 200 baht a kilo, Wichai Rungtaweechai’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing with orders for his speciality – crocodile meat – as Thais seek out cheaper sources of protein.
“Initially I didn’t know how to handle the demand. Restaurants and meat traders want large amounts sent out to them … while other customers who want to try crocodile meat order it to take home to cook themselves.” Thailand has culled hundreds of thousands of pigs to control the outbreak, while Taiwan and Cambodia have banned imports of Thai swine.
In 2021, Thailand reared 18 million pigs and piglets for domestic consumption and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has said the country has plenty of swine to meet home demand. On Monday he suggested shadowy forces were cynically manipulating prices as the Lunar New Year approached. At his restaurant a few kilometres from the farm, his wife Utaiporn whips up Thai classics from pad kaprao and tom sap soup , replacing pork with crocodile meat: stewed, stir fried, minced or slow-braised.
On Tuesday the Thai cabinet approved funding of US$42 million to help provide discounted goods for the next three months to ease the crisis.
Can we learn to use cultured, vegan meat instead of killing poor animals for our own consumption? Never has any humans ended up with illness due to a vegetarian diet as compared to a high meat diet consumer.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
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