Taste Like Chicken??

WARNING: For the faithful readers of this rag who might, by definition, be called “gastrointestinally challenged”, this might be a good time to stop reading.

For those with more of an iron gut; read on my friends.

I mentioned last time that our lunch returning from the drifting day was a story all unto itself. Well, I guess its time to tell the tale.

Some people dance with them, some people play flutes to them, Harry Potter can talk to them, and now we can add that some people eat them. Yup, we had snake for lunch.

In reality, it’s not that bad. Does it taste like chicken? I don’t know. After all, with enough spices, peppers, and hot oil I suppose most any taste can be masked. I had had the opportunity to have snake last year and had passed on it, but this time I figured I should give it a try. Again, I can hear your question “Why do you do this to yourself?” It’s really quite simple. I figure there are 1.3 BILLION people in China; so the food ain’t killing them. And if it’s not killing them, then I doubt it will kill me to at least try it. Besides, I just might find that I like it (that was the result with the pigeon – a delicious game bird. But as always, I am off-subject, so back to the story).

Of course, there were other things on the menu, fried pork, excellent veggies, and an incredibly delicious dish of fresh water snails (my friends kept trying to say ‘fresh water coach’ (meaning conch)), so I knew if I didn’t like the looks of the snake or if I actually got past that and didn’t like the taste of the snake there were plenty of other dishes I could enjoy.
But you know, of course, that there is more to it than just our eating it. We had to pick them out!
So off to the snake pen we go!
This is a dirt floor room in the back of the restaurant and the snakes are just hanging out having a good time with each other not realizing the finite number of days they have left. The snake handler steps into the room and stirs them up so they slither around and you can select the one you want. See that big plump black one? Or maybe you would rather have the brown and white one that is shedding its skin? Doesn’t matter. You pick it. You eat it. The guy grabs the snake fast (trying not to get bitten – he did show us his scars), stuffs it in a bag and heads off to the kitchen.
In the end, the snake is cut into 3 inch long strips and fried. Let me tell you, fish bones are nothing compared to this. Snakes have a zillion bones and if you can pull the meat off the bones, you can actually get a decent sized bite. But to be honest, the work is not really worth the result and so I ate my piece of snake and then feasted on the snails and pork.
So there you have it.

Ok, you can be excused to gross out now after which you will be returned to your regularly scheduled fun stories.

I Promise.

Maybe.