Vampire

A traditional dish in Chad that is made with animal blood.

Hungry Chadians have resurrected the culinary tradition of frying blood, the BBC’s Celeste Hicks reported from Chad’s capital, N’Djamena:

“Vampire,” as it is jokingly dubbed, is a traditional dish making a comeback amid a global surge in food prices that has left meat too expensive for many. …

“I make it with peppers, salt, onions, spicy sauce and maggi [stock cubes]. I fry it all up like that; it’s good,” said Modestine Danbe, who lives in the N’Djamena.

Ms Danbe is one of many women in the city’s Walia neighbourhood, close to the Cameroonian border, who has taken to frying up huge vats of blood and selling it to her neighbours on the streets.

She buys buckets of fresh blood from the abattoir near her home for about $1 (£0.61), which makes about 40 plates of “vampire.”

According to Hicks, nutritional specialists say that “vampire” is a good source of nutrients and protein, especially for children. One local was enthusiastic about its culinary merits too, stating:

“The taste is good, a bit like liver. I really like it. … I suppose it doesn’t sound very good to be associated with sucking blood, but I don’t really care. Perhaps it will give me the strength of a vampire!”

(Chadians are not alone in turning to old-fashioned ingredients in response to rising prices. In the United Kingdom, sales of “traditional” cuts of meat, such as brisket, shank and ox-cheek are rising. A survey by the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute found that 69 percent of Americans were stocking up on meat when it is on sale, and 67 percent were now buying cheaper cuts.)