Crocodile consumption craze caused by peak pork product prices

Marie Antoinette was famously attributed (or likely misattributed) as commenting, when the people did not have any bread to eat, “Let them eat croc!” Er, or something like that. But the people of Thailand have taken it to heart; as pork prices surge across the country, many have turned to eating crocodile as an alternate source of meat.

The pig price premiums are the result of the controversial spread of the African Swine Fever that has led to pig shortages and, in turn, pork shortages. And when (the cost of) pigs fly, people turn to alternative sources of meat and protein. Enter crocodile, the “pig of the swamp” (as no one calls it).

A post on Facebook Monday received nearly 2,000 comments and over 4,000 likes when a crocodile farm offered meat from their giant reptiles at 70 baht for kilogramme. With the price of hog hiked high to over 200 baht per kilogramme, people are…