Increasing demand for crocodile meat in Thailand
The skyrocketing price of pork in Thailand has increased the demand for crocodile meat, which has proved a huge boost to crocodile farmers affected by the pandemic.
Thai Crocodile Farmer Association president Yosapong Temsiripong says rising consumption of reptile meat has given commercial crocodile farmers some hope. He explained that the farmers had the costs, but could not sell the crocodiles, especially their skins, because of the pandemic, in which no foreign tourists entered the country and exports were halted.
With the significant increase in demand for the meat, the number of crocodiles slaughtered per month has nearly doubled to 20.000. According to Yosapong, whether the trend will continue depends on whether consumers who try the crocodile meat like it.
Nevertheless, he believes there is a good chance of longer term demand as the meat can be adapted for use in different recipes and is rich in protein, comparable to chicken and pork, but at a lower price, at least for now.
I have not yet seen the crocodile meat for sale in the supermarket, but I have already tasted it. At a stall of the Tiger Park crocodile show in Sriracha, crocodile meat satay was once sold, quite tasty actually!
When was the last time you ate crocodile meat?
Source: Thai PBS
In our area there is also a crocodile farm and a restaurant that sells the meat, I regularly eat crocodile in garlic pepper sauce, delicious!!!!!
But I doubt that it will replace pork, the price is a lot higher than that of pork.
Have ever eaten crocodile at the famous 'The Carnivore' restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya. I'm not really a meat lover, but it tasted great. Has some chicken meat.
Last time I ate crocodile meat in Zimbabwe. That must have been in 1999. Delicious, especially with a good cheese sauce.
Reading the story not only makes me homesick for Thailand but also for eating crocodile meat. In December 2018 and later in December 2019 was treated by a Thai girlfriend in Pattaya – Location: second road behind central festival (*_*)
We are a people of: "what the farmer does not know, he does not eat" but when you are in Thailand you have to taste the country's culture - also with crocodile meat. my impression is that it has the taste of a “mixture” of chicken and mutton where others taste something different (that is possible) –
How does it taste: aroi mak mak (very tasty) and definitely worth repeating. It's time for me to go there again.
About twenty years ago you could in Chiangmai, not far from the LaiThai – guesthouse, a specialized
Find a crocodile meat restaurant. I don't remember the name.
I ate the meat there a couple of times, but….
not bad in taste, especially thanks to the tasty garlic sauce, but a bit like frog legs.
Thai cuisine has so much more and better to offer. Those small pieces of pork or chicken in the tastiest preparations will not make a big difference in price for us. Tasty for those who want to try, but for me it is no longer necessary.
Greetings,
Michel.
Strange that sales of crocodile meat are rising and pork sales are falling, even though it is more expensive.
Let me clarify, the article begins with: "Due to the sky-high price of pork in Thailand, the demand for crocodile meat has increased".
Well, according to Geertp, crocodile meat is more expensive, so despite the "sky-high" price of pork, it is still more expensive and therefore an increased demand illogical. Chicken is cheaper and if the demand for it has increased, I think that makes sense.
OK, I looked it up. What GeertP writes is not correct. Crocodile meat is now cheaper: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2247155/crocodile-goes-onto-the-menu
A huge number of pigs have died of swine fever in Thailand in the past month. We also had a dozen of them, all dead within a little over a week. That is why the price of live pigs has risen from 70 to more than 100 baht. So the price of pork has also risen. Buying cheap pork on the market is certainly not kosher at the moment.
It is the price per kilogram.
Apart until crocodile meat is cheaper than that of a pig, to my knowledge pig feed is much cheaper than the meat that a crocodile has to eat.
It also takes much longer to grow a crocodile to a length when it is meat-ripe like a pig, but well, it must be just me.
I think crocodile meat is a by-product or residual product, crocodiles are grown for the luxury handbags…
This is from The Thaiger.
One crocodile farm made a post on Facebook last week offering the reptile meat at 70 baht per kilogram, but less than pork which has been around 200 baht per kilogram. The farm said the crocodile meat tastes similar to chicken, adding that it's rich in protein and “very healthy.”
70 Baht per kg or 200 Baht per kg, so it is not surprising that the high demand for crocodile meat.
I personally think it looks the most like chicken.