Title: Fruit Bat Soup
Categories: Soup
Yield: 4 Servings

3		Fruit bats, well washed but neither skinned nor eviscerated,
		Water
1	tb	Finely sliced fresh ginger,
1	lg	Onion, quartered,

I knew if we were patient, this would become available. For all of you who have been waiting patiently to make your fruit bats into fruit bat soup, here's a recipe.

The following is a genuine recipe from Micronesia. Fruit bats, or flying foxes, are furry, fruit and nectar eating bats about the size of small rabbits. The make very affectionate pets.

Sea salt to taste, Chopped scallions, Soy sauce and/or coconut cream.

1. Place the bats in a large kettle and add water to cover, the ginger, onion, and salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 40 minutes. Strain broth into a second kettle.

2. Take the bats, skin them and discard the skin. Remove meat from the bones and return meat, and any of the viscera you fancy, to the broth. Heat.

3. Serve liberally sprinkled with scallions and further seasoned with soy sauce and/or coconut cream.

Yield: 4 servings.

(From "The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook" by Jean Hewitt (c) 1971,

Quadrangle Books, Inc. NY.

NOTE: A final word about the Jean Hewitt cookbook. It is now out of print so I don't feel too bad about swiping a recipe from it. Despite the above it is an excellent cookbook made up from recipes sent in by readers to the New York Times, and tested by Ms Hewitt herself. It comes from the days when "Natural Foods" did not just mean salt free veggie fare, (although there are plenty of first rate, mostly simple vegetarian recipes included). If you can get hold of a copy from a public library, say, I recommend it.

Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia.

Posted by Ted Taylor. Courtesy of Fred Peters.

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