Inside Story: No Rats for Lunch
Inside Story for Friday 4th of July 2025
By Andrew McChesney
Peter Siamikobo enjoyed digging for rats in a mountainous village in Zambia. The boy and his family ate the rodents with maize-meal porridge at mealtime. They also enjoyed eating pigs and bubble fish. Pork was always on the table at Christmas. Bubble fish was popular for its boneless meat.
So, it came as a surprise to Peter when he learned that the Bible prohibited his favorite meats.
He heard about unclean food for the first time when he traveled about 20 miles from his hometown to visit a brother who was working at a farm operated by Seventh-day Adventist missionaries from the United States. He stayed for Sabbath worship services, and the preacher spoke about the clean and unclean animals of Leviticus 11:1-47. Peter realized that he and his family were following a meal plan that didn’t match the Bible’s teaching.
After a while, the missionaries began to hold worship services in Peter’s elementary school on Sabbath afternoons. Peter attended the meetings, even though he had to walk two miles to reach the school.
His parents, however, discouraged him from going and reminded him that he had been baptized as a baby. Father even ordered him to work on the family farm on Saturdays. Peter didn’t know anything about Sabbath observance, and he quickly did his work in the morning so he go to the afternoon meeting.
In high school, Peter made new friends from Adventist families. He studied the Bible with them and gave his heart to Jesus in baptism by immersion. He stopped eating rats, pork, and bubble fish.
Over time, his parents grew to appreciate the seventh-day Sabbath. They understood why he didn’t eat unclean meat. Every Sabbath that he was at home, they encouraged him not to be late for Sabbath School.
Today, there is an Adventist church in Peter’s town. Through the Adventist influence, many townspeople have stopped eating unclean food.
Peter is grateful that he learned as a boy about the importance of healthy living and glorifying God with his diet. After all, 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (NKJV).
“Thank Jesus for saving me from unclean food,” said Peter, a church elder and head of the Social Sciences Department at Rusangu Secondary School, a Seventh-day Adventist high school, in Zambia.
Pray for the gospel to be proclaimed in Zambia and other countries in the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, the recipient of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.
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This article mentions "bubble fish" as being unclean. I was unable to find any useful information about whether they have fins and scales. Can you enlighten me? What exactly makes "bubble fish" unclean?
Rob, I just did my research and found that since bubble fish are guppies, they are considered unclean because they lack scales. One website I found stated that they do have scales, while other websites claimed they do not. I looked at a picture, and to me, they do not have scales, but I am not a fish expert. This may be where Romans 14:5 comes into play, and everyone must be convinced in their mind without passing judgment on another.
I just saw a thing on YouTube yesterday about the bubble fish and they are called that because of how much they expand when they get to the surface but they can live as deep as five miles down. Can you imagine the pressure of the ocean when you’re in the Mariana trench… Royce.
I think the Mariana Trench is a bit far away from Zambia to be talking about that kind of Bubble Fish. More likely the fish in question is Synodontis woosnami also known as Bubble Fish, which is part of the catfish family common in that part of Africa.
Ah, Maurice, I know you as an amateur ornithologist, and now I'm guessing you are an amateur ichthyologist as well. 😊
A few years ago I was in the news for photographing an Eagle Ray (fish) jumping. The Newcastle Herald published the photo and the ABC radio network interviewed me. My daughter quipped at the time that it was funny that a bird photographer had become famous for photographing a fish! Mind you, the fame only lasted a few days.