Snake or Snake soup! Have you tried it?
By viking888
@viking888 (390)
Philippines
December 13, 2006 2:08pm CST
Snake as a delicacy in some countries but are not easily accepted by some. But just ask anyone that has tried snake soup and they will tell you it is delicious and memorable. Why? Because there is something in the snake meat that drives your metabolism to greater strengths. Or should I say, it revitalizes your system making you stronger in bodily health.
In HK and all over China, snake soup is popular in flashy restaurants (expensive) to "yam-tsa" places (i.e.-tea houses) which is affordable and even on sidewalk tea shops, really cheap during the winter months. Flavours vary according to the snake that is used. Cobras command higher prices while ordinary snakes are an ordinary fare in most restaurants that offer snake dinners. It is taken during the cold season as the Chinese say it gives a warm feeling after taking the soup or the snake meat.
Also, snakes are auctioned on the streets of Shamshuipo and other places in HK. A snake man grabs one snake in a bag full of snakes unmindful of being bitten by them. In fact one can see his both arms has had a lot of snakebites in the past. The snakeman will then bite off the head of the snake, spit out the head, still quivering, and hold up the snake upside down to let out the blood to a glass which is auctioned to immediately. Onlookers bid for it and the winner takes the glass of snake blood, adds a few drops of "mou-tai" (local rice wine) and gulps the contents.
Next, the main event, the snakeman searches for the snake bile and pulls it out and declares the bidding for the bile has now started. Onlookers bid, someone wins and that person immediately plunges the entire bile sack down his throat followed by a gulp of the "mou-tai".
Strange? Not really. It is practiced everyday on that street and many other streets of HK and China. It is common to see! The strange thing is the people who bid on those snake parts are pretty good healthy looking men and women! But then ask what their age are and you will be surprised! They are quite old but look very young! That is strange!
2 responses
@rhinoboy (2129)
•
15 Dec 06
I don't like the idea of drinking the blood or eating the bile sac that way, but that's probably just because I'm western and never been in eastern culture so that is weird to me.
i would have no problem eating the meat in a meal though. It would probably be a good lean meat with plenty protein. It may be very tasty!
1 person likes this
@viking888 (390)
• Philippines
16 Dec 06
Yup. I understand! But it is tasty, more like the taste of chicken meat, but with a slightly flakier texture. Blended with aromatic Chinese herbs and guess what, some thin slices of ham or beef makes the snake meat so deliciously attractive to anyone's palate. If I were to serve it to you, you will not know it is snake meat or even snake soup. There will be no clue as to what you are eating, until of course I tell you after eating it that it was snake you just devoured. He, he, he. I have played that trick to many of my guests visiting HK.
The chinese has a knack for doing this with flair and win's a lot of eastern gourmet's approval.
But do you know that in jungle survival courses, soldiers around the world are thought how to eat snake meat specially the non poisonous one. They are taught how dress it up, take out the bile, the poison (if poisonous) and to bleed the animal. Then how to cook it when possible during non critical missions or to eat it raw during covert operations. A soldier should have tough stomachs to survive or be caught by the enemy.
@moneyseeker (1024)
•
13 Dec 06
Even if they were anti-aging I still couldn't eat snake - though you write a interesting discussion! The main reason I wouldn't is because I'm vegetarian. Each to their own - it's the differences that make life interesting.
1 person likes this
