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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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Chadian 'Vampire' Dish Gets Blood Boiling ... or Frying

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(Newser) – 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!”

Chadian refugees from Cameroonian camps walk back across the bridge in to N' Djamena, Chad, in 2008.
Chadian refugees from Cameroonian camps walk back across the bridge in to N' Djamena, Chad, in 2008.   (AP Photo)
A local Chadian blood dish called
A local Chadian blood dish called "vampire" has come back with a vengeance.   (AP Photo)
Women line up in the Gouroukoum refugee camp in eastern Chad, March 28, 2007.
Women line up in the Gouroukoum refugee camp in eastern Chad, March 28, 2007.   (AP Photo)
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Blood pudding and liver have been used in other countries to promote high-protein intake for families who don't have daily access to meat. - Robert Johnston, a nutritional specialist for Unicef in Chad

I make it with peppers, salt, onions, spicy sauce and maggi [stock cubes]. I fry it all up like that; it's good. - Modestine Danbe

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3 comments
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anchower
Jun 1, 09 5:41 PM CDT
Sad. Reply
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TerrifiedCitizen
Jun 1, 09 7:44 PM CDT
How well do anemic livestock produce? If we weren't fighting oil wars on several fronts at once and supporting NASA, we could probably feed and educate the majority of these people... it's the little children that bother me the most. Reply
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indigo-soul
Jun 4, 09 4:29 PM CDT
And our leaders in Brussels want to bring more of this people into our countries? Ridiculous. Reply
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