Chadian 'Vampire' Dish Gets Blood Boiling ... or Frying

There’s a vampire resurgence in Chad, and no, it’s not because Twilight has swept the African country. Cost-conscious residents have resurrected a dish slyly known as “vampire”: cooked animal blood, the BBC reports. With global food prices soaring and meat increasingly expensive, traditional vampire is “actually an excellent source of nutrients, especially for children,” a local aidworker says.

Drinking livestock blood without killing the animal is common for Chad’s hungry nomads, and millet-beer bars and enterprising women have taken to selling vampire—often fried—for around 20 cents a plate. “I suppose it doesn’t sound very good to be associated with sucking blood, but I don’t really care,” one enthusiast says. “Perhaps it will give me the strength of a vampire!” (More Chad stories.)