Three Squeaks
(unfortunately, this is the closest I could find to an image of this dish… but this is fairly accurate from what I understand)
“Three Squeaks” is the literal translation from the Chinese name of this dish and hails from a variety parts of China, mainly in the Guangdong (Canton) Provence. The reason why it is called “Three Squeaks” is due to the sounds made when eating this dish. Contrary to some popular belief, this is not an urban legend dish.
The appetizeresque dish are newly born mice (still hairless and barely able to open their eyes). It is typically served with some type of cold soy based sauce. The first squeak is when the mouse/rat is picked up with the chopsticks. The second is when the mouse/rat is dipped into the sauce (temperature change causing the squeak). The third is when the mouse/rat is placed into your mouth (another temperature change).
Typically, they are very newborn and thus the bone structure is still fairly loose. I’ve heard that these have been served wrapped in seaweed before, but that may be more rumored than anything else.
Submitted by ChicagoKid
Update: the following video from Twitter shows a person eating 3 squeaks. The mouse squeaks 3 times:
- once when it is picked up
- once when it is dipped in sauce
- once when it is eaten
The reason many people find eating mice alive atrocious is not some form of cultural bigotry, but rather because such exotic dishes can lead to widespread disease pandemics.
- According to the CDC, ebola was likely spread by African fruit bats as the reservoir host.
- SARS originated from bats, civet cats were an intermediate hose, and then the disease spread to humans
- MERS originated from bats, camels were an intermediate host, and then the disease spread to humans
- The Wuhan Coronavirus originated at a Wuhan wet market where people ate bats, snakes & other similar meats: “The virus was detected in 35 of the 585 environmental samples collected on January 1 and January 12, with 33 of the positive samples taken from the market’s western zone, where the wildlife trading business was concentrated.”
- China banned wild animal trade the Wuhan coronavirus spread into a pandemic. In Wuhan they are going through 100,000 hazmat suits per day trying to contain the outbreak.
If you turn on English subtitles you can see how scary the Wuhan coronavirus is for a person living in the city.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
This dish is likely an urban legend:
“There are a number of other Chinese dishes (as collected from Chinese sources) that are legendary. Legendary is used in the sense that the stories are passed around and are widely known, but it is impossible to find a restaurant that serves these exotic dishes, although there are plenty of rumors about who eats it (some other group), where you can get it (someplace else) and often when it was available (in the past). The “true” stories are frequently told as classic friend-of-a-friend (usually a grandfather) accounts.
* Live monkey brains
* Live goose feet, fried on the grill while the animal dances about
* Live bear paws, fried on the grill while the animal dances about
* Live rat embryos (Three Squeaks)”
http://maxent.org/ch/exotic_food.html
April 1st, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Micahel,
The website that you left is interesting, however you failed to either read all the way through or post the disclaimer on the “legendary” dishes, specifically:
“It is unlikely that any of these are regularly eaten anywhere, although they may be thought of as local delicacies. These are examples I have personally seen on television shows.”
I have had one friend eat this dish while living in China, so unfortunately I don’t have a personal account of this.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:02 pm
ChicagoKid, I’m affraid it is you who failed to understand or read thoroughly the linked article.
The line that you cited – “It is unlikely that they are regularly eaten….” does not refer to the legendary dishes that Michael listed. It is just a footnote referring to a table several paragraphs below the text cited by Michael and it refers specifically to Rats, Worms and Ants.
Therefore it does not imply that live monkey brains or rat embryos are actualy real dishes.
The whole linked article suggests that all those exotic dishes (consisting mostly of live animals) are extremely unpluasible and any effort to research them shows that it is impossible to prove that they do exist.
All traces lead to “unsubstantiated reports” just like your report that you “have had one friend eat this dish while living in China” – it is imposible to find a single person who has eaten one of these dishes rather than “heard about someone who has” or “had a friend who have” etc.
Moreover the article explains in a sound, reasonable and plausible way, what is the mechanism in which these legends are born and why do they spread with such ease.
Fact is that many horrible and bizzare things make their way to the internet (I’m talking about fact here, not rumours). Videos of executions, murders and torture float through the web, not hard to find. And yet there is no documentation of the legendary dishes, such as the three squeaks you insist to be true. Don’t you find that a bit odd?
November 21st, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Normally i would think of this more likely to be an urban legend, however I know a chinese girl just recently moved to the UK who has given detailed accounts of eating both the three queeks dish aswell as ducks feet (cooked with the live animal on a hot plate) all the while giggling – otherwise shes a great person.
It comes down to culture.
January 6th, 2010 at 7:30 pm
You see JM – exactly as I’ve said before. You “know a chinese girl just recently moved to the UK who has given detailed accounts of eating”… always a second-hand relation. I’ve yet to see someone backing this myth up from the first person perspective in a discussion such as this one. I’ve done a lot of internet research and never did I found any proof. Other than that, just read the last paragraph of my previous comment.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Ok I don’t know if I could do the 3 squeaks. I have done dog and many other COOKED delicacies but raw baby mouse. I don’t know…
October 16th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
People who eat dog, f*** you. To the people who eat this, f*** you too.
December 29th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Annie,
What’s wrong with dog? Sure, it’s a common pet, but I’d be willing to try to eat it. As for raw baby mouse… I wouldn’t personally eat it as I prefer my meat cooked, but I wouldn’t frown on those who do eat it.
January 15th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Went o stay with my uncle and his wife in Hong Kong and witnessed thre
e live monkeys brought o the able next to ours whereupon the man made gesures obviously chosing his monkey and the chef? waiter ? pu the monkey it to a harness vice thing and bashed is head in !!!!
F***ing Horrific ! made me vommit couldnt get the image out of my head for ages, now its back ! If theres a depraved way of torturing something man will find an excuse. originally apparently the climate and weather was so extreme they had periods of extreme famine and thus turned to vermin and other creatures seemingly unpallettable for sustainance . still dont understand why they have to bash the monkeys head in though!
January 16th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
What the f**k is wrong with the world? Seriously f**ked up people. have a word with yourselves
January 19th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
I saw this covered on a documentary show here in the Philippines. I can’t remember what’s the title of the show but this one is definitely true.
January 27th, 2011 at 8:26 am
I live in China for many years, I have been chasing all these dishes =>
* Live monkey brains
* Live goose feet, fried on the grill while the animal dances about
* Live bear paws, fried on the grill while the animal dances about
* Live rat embryos (Three Squeaks)”
etc
I have successfully found
– Alive boiled cat
– NOT alive monkey brain
– not as nasty, but also, live shrimp (drunken shrimp the dish name)
AND dadadaddaaaa since a couple of days in a small city in china, near Lianzhou in Guangdong….
Three squeaks ! i ate one, and that’s enough for the rest of my life…
Im surprised nobody mentioned the half bred eggs in vietnam/thailand yet 😀
Cheers,
TheHans
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:43 am
Yes, I don’t see whats so bad about eating dog. I might be willing to give it a try even if the meat might be a bit tough. Raw mice embryos though? Gross! I’ve had sushi but thats as close to raw I wanna get!
February 5th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Pigs are smarter than dogs. The only reason people feel so strongly about them is because of the societal attachment for them, just like cows in India or swans in China. To vilify the consumption of an animal simply because of it’s place in your culture shows great lack of cultural respect.
March 1st, 2011 at 11:01 pm
disturbing to say the least…but different strokes for different folks i guess.
June 25th, 2011 at 6:04 am
anyone who can bring themselves to eat the flesh of a sentient being is lower than scum.
September 8th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
YOU ARE ALL HORRIBLE PEOPLE! the poor animal is in pain when it dies, and we humans love dogs! they provide us with so much love and affection. YOU ARE ALL SICK
November 1st, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I’ve seen the 3 Squeaks on the table in front of me although I did not partake. I did, however, eat the camel and fried scorpions and a bit of the venison as well. I’ve eaten all manner of creatures in the past but I have been a very happy locavore vegetarian for a few years now. (I don’t care what you eat at all as it’s none of my business.) Through those experiences I came to understand that meat is meat no matter if it’s a cow, pig or golden retriever and denouncing one while eating the other is hypocritical. There is a really twisted view of pets in the US, where we treat them like children and project human emotions on them (human love being the biggest), yet we feed them pet food that includes other animals in the form of slaughterhouse offal and sometimes ground up animal tissue from the digestive tract etc. We feed ground cow to cows, which is how bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or Mad Cow Disease) gets into our food supply – cows eating ground up cow parts (recycled tissue known as meat and bone meal or MBM) which can have brains, spinal cords and digestive parts in it. Know that, no matter if you’re all organic, the people around you – our entire society in fact – are still eating that stuff and feeding it to their pets so be careful of pointing fingers at people of other cultures.
January 3rd, 2012 at 7:21 am
People averse to eating dog have never seen packs of wild homeless dogs that run the streets of many less developed cities in the world. I wouldn’t have any problem eating one of these dangerous animals.
January 15th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
So you all comment here, or on the dog meat, but when you look at Warthog anus, 1 comment.
February 2nd, 2012 at 3:56 am
Amit: I don’t love dogs. They are stupid and shit everywhere. I don’t eat them, but I have no problem with people who do.
March 14th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
HOW COULD SOMEBODY DO THIS!? Poor babys don’t even know whats happening! :'( What is the pleasure of eting something ALIVE!?
March 20th, 2012 at 8:29 am
Well i had dog in a KOREAN restaurant in Beijing – it was nothing special at all – tasted a bit like horse. I’d not eat it again as it does not taste as good as pork/beef and costs quadruple the price.
May 6th, 2012 at 8:45 am
well, i had a pet chicken before who was my best friend providing me with love and affection. so once i saw this man eating chicken so i called him a sick person.
October 25th, 2013 at 10:17 pm
This is evil. Eating newborns! Redoncules, never in my 11yr old, fashionable, animal lover world!!!!!!!
December 26th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Eating Dog is beyond wrong!
June 2nd, 2015 at 12:32 am
“Contrary to some popular belief, this is not an urban legend dish.”
Not a real dish that is eaten regularly. Notice how all the other submissions have pictures of the dishes??
September 24th, 2015 at 11:11 am
To those saying they haven’t found proof of this dish, I have watched videos of people eating this and it is disgusting!
May 20th, 2016 at 9:14 pm
this is just plain mean… but i understand, like monkey brains. but still, 🙁
October 3rd, 2016 at 2:54 pm
If you eat meat or any other animal product, you are a cunt. If animal suffering is involved, you are an even bigger cunt. This is not culture, it is fuckin sick. As are the cunts who partake in it. Chinese cunts have a lot to answer for. Cunts, all of em. Backward cunts. Yellow cunts. Cunt cunts.
May 11th, 2017 at 7:00 am
I just saw a vid of people eating this
May 25th, 2017 at 12:44 am
I am a culinary tourist and have often tried to find various strange dishes. I have eaten dog before and It is quite delicious and I have also eaten this “Three Squeaks” But it should be called Four squeaks. When you bite down you get the final sqeak. When you bite down it is similar to eating duck foetus, and actually not too bad. However whilst I would eat dog again, I just might pass on “Three Sqeaks”.
October 2nd, 2018 at 4:55 am
GUYS HOW IS EATING DOG WRONG BUT EATING PIGS, SHEEP, COWS AND CHICKEN ALRIGHT? Sure, humans may be attatched to these animals more than they are to others, but that doesn’t mean eating dog is wrong. Afterall, it is not YOU who is eating the animal, so why would you guys care what others choose to consume? Another thing is HOW DID A PAGE ABOUT THE THREE SQUEAKS TURN TO A CONVERSATION ON THE CONSUMPTION OF DOGS?!
January 2nd, 2019 at 3:03 pm
I was in the U.S. Navy 02 yrs, ventured most of Asia and ate in lots of local restuarants betcha I ate dog meat…..
March 22nd, 2019 at 10:39 pm
Fun fact: newborn rats and mice are born very underdeveloped and have no ability to sense pain until about 7-10 days of age. There’s nothing unethical about this dish, if it is indeed real, at all.
January 24th, 2020 at 10:13 pm
I love horse, termites, frog, iguana, whale and just about anything out of the ocean.
While visiting Iceland we sampled newborn Colt, newborn lamb, puffin, and other unusual delights.
I think it won’t be long before humans become so nonchalant about what’s on our plate that Planned Parenthood will figure out how to introduce newborn or aborted human baby to the culinary scene. They already take them apart and sell off them off piecemeal.
January 26th, 2020 at 8:06 am
For everyone arguing that this isn’t a real dish… You can find videos, on YouTube, of people eating it, in China.
January 26th, 2020 at 10:00 am
This is not a “dish”, it’s a downright disgusting practice from those subhuman creatures known as the Chinese. It would be nice if Trump nuked the whole CUNTry
January 28th, 2020 at 10:03 pm
To everyone taking this and turning it into something racist, i hate you. I dont like this either and i cant imagine anyone partaking in this, having any empathy. BUT IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY’RE CHINESE. Do you know how many people from america would try this? SO FUCKING MANY. WE EAT VEIL. Listen its really gross and i dont like that they’re live when eaten, but have you seen footage of how we treat baby cows? They are tortured. Tortured. At least these babies are dying quickly. But if you ask me neither should be happening.
February 10th, 2020 at 12:48 pm
China: *gets coronavirus*
Also China: *eats all sorts of weird or alive creatures and ladles grease out of sewers*
Fucking animals.
And yes I have seen people served this. It may not be widespread and more of a local thing in some areas, but it exists and it’s inhuman and disgusting.
February 12th, 2020 at 4:30 am
Dog tastes like really fatty pork. It’s not great and I got a really upset stomach from eating it.
February 15th, 2020 at 1:28 pm
I can understand people eating what ever they want , except rodents dogs and cats (not necessary) but keep and kill any creature humanly not alive in boiling water its barbaric . and not animals that will give and spread diseases to others
Oh and not raw thats so inhuman.
March 2nd, 2020 at 6:10 pm
Gaybos go get stuffed china sucks filthy coronavirus
March 13th, 2020 at 2:51 pm
This eating of forbidden animals in the Chinese culture is not new. During the age of Kingdoms and Dynasties, the masses never even tasted proper meat like beef, mutton, chicken, fish etc. They saw their masters consume all these meats, as a result they started eating what ever they could lay their hands. Now aday they eat it out of fashion neou rich.
March 25th, 2020 at 1:12 am
People who condone eating dogs probably are not aware of the inhumane torture they put them through. They are skinned alive then thrown into boiling water. Some are hung from rafters by their feet and beaten with stick until they fall apart from the legs. Some are tied up and their legs chopped off some are beat over and over for several days until they die, some are set on fire alive. This is nothing but evil and if you purchase dog meat while visiting that country from hell you are just as cruel as the locals are!
March 28th, 2020 at 7:20 pm
I wouldn’t eat dog because i cant think of a carnivore as a healthy or tasty thing. I I couldn’t do it!
April 25th, 2020 at 8:02 pm
……..Some of the things I read here are mind boggling…..; the reason I searched for this subject on the web is because I saw live footage today of Chinese eating raw fish.via e-mails sent to me…a baby was spoon fed little baby tadpoles…like tiny embryos swimming around in bowl….mother was spoon feeding these to her baby….; unreal…..in other emails that were sent to me…some guy has two enormous eels and cooking them live and then eating into them like a savage; and one video via email showed , I’m not kidding….this maniac picks up live bird, guess at one of their wet markets, and rips its’ head off with his teeth….and proceeds to eat animal.; Pandemic/China!!!……they have no regard for pain and suffering…..; don’t say you will eat dog meat….I actually send money to aid saving dogs caught and caged and treated without any regard …………shameful/babaric……the Chinese are a good people….but the behavior I saw was just so sickening …..they can’t be allowed to live like this….I do believe whole heartedly now….the Coronavirus stems from China!!
April 26th, 2020 at 6:59 pm
Christopher Kelly, you are racist.
June 27th, 2020 at 12:23 am
@Ethel
You obviously haven’t watched what happens in the US. The practices that go on in raising and slaughtering cattle, and other animals, are just as bad, if not worse, than what you are mentioning.
August 1st, 2020 at 6:48 am
Vegetarian-An ancient tribal slang for the village idiot who can’t hunt, fish or ride.
October 15th, 2020 at 10:56 pm
christopher kelly i will now be partaking in a 3 squeaks meal just to spite you, disgusting racist.
October 26th, 2020 at 2:23 am
@K “ Fun fact: newborn rats and mice are born very underdeveloped and have no ability to sense pain until about 7-10 days of age. There’s nothing unethical about this dish, if it is indeed real, at all.”
This is 100% NOT true… I found two newborn mice with their umbilical cords still intact – so less than 24 hours old. On the first night of nursing them, I forgot to turn off my LED headband when I took the boy out and he started shrieking in pain… their eyelids are translucent as babies so those LEDs were hurting him
48 hours old… he was screaming in pain again-when i went to go check, his sister was suckling on his leg
Baby mice definitely feel pain. And if theyre so ‘underdeveloped’ and cant feel pain then wtf would they be squeaking when ppl dip them in sauce & bite into them. Damn this is ignorant ‘science’
January 23rd, 2021 at 9:01 am
the amount of justifications monsters make to murder a sentient living being is mind-boggling. and honestly, i think its about time we stopped ‘adjusting’ with and justifying such things as a cultural difference, as it is more of a cultural FAILURE. further, this consumption only leads to demand and further leads to rape of an innocent female animal in confined quarters, unable to understand why she and her kids are treated so terribly. filthy humans. nature is doing such a poor job of eradicating us.