When times are tight, the vampire comes out

Ingesting blood is often associated with Dracula and his ilk, but nearly every society does it in one form or another. Often, blood is mixed with sausage, such as in British black pudding (which has thankfully never caught on in the United States).

Like those of us here in the states, people in the poor African country of Chad look down on drinking blood. But they also love meat, and the country has been hit by a food shortage making the cost of meat prohibitive. Enter blood.

Women in the cities mix it with meat and spices and sell it for profit;

in the northern part of the country, people bleed an animal without

killing it.

The BBC interviewed a UN specialist who called the practice an “excellent source of nutrients.” When you’re desperate for food it’s not so bad, but Chadians know it doesn’t look good in the eyes of the world. But the BBC reporters interviewed a man who was drinking blood straight and had few qualms. “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!”

In case you want to have your own vampire night out, it’s nearly impossible to find black pudding in America but here is a recipe for it. Not that one quart of pig’s blood would be much easier to find.