An extravagant dinner is a big part of the recent Chinese Mid Autumn Festival celebration (a much tastier part than the moon cakes). Mrs. Stevo and I were lucky enough to dine with some friends, Kejia or Hakka people. When I heard snake was on the menu I started to highly anticipate the meal. Would it taste like chicken, as I had heard? Frog, another legendary chicken-flavored meat, does taste somewhat like chicken I had discovered.
Mrs. Stevo has a pathological fear of snakes. Not like, “Yikes, a snake!” More like, a crying fit that requires a sedative. This fear isn’t limited to the live reptile: It also extends to anything that looks like (in her perception) a snake. Toy snakes, the elongated shadow of a moth, gerbils, all cause a screaming fit. Mrs. Stevo was a little hesitant to attend the Mid-Autumn Festival celebration in case live snakes were slithering around. That was not the case, the snakes were cooked.
The yellow-tinted snake wine tasted venomous. It was if the snake was biting the inside of your mouth from the great hereafter. It wasn’t without its charms but not a tipple I would partake of every day. I did not sample the snake gallbladder wine. I will only go so far in my efforts to culturally assimilate.
An earthen pot held snake and chicken soup. The steamy, light-flavored broth did indeed taste like chicken. I didn’t get to eat the snake meat: Mrs. Stevo’s nerves started to get jittery when she realized the pot was full of snake. The fact the snake was deceased and had been cooked for several hours didn’t matter much.
The giant platter of snake meat looked a lot like fried fish fillets. The skin was a greyish black. As I pulled the meat from the bones I was a tad repulsed. You’re eating a snake, a gross slithering creature, my inner monologue droned. I pushed forward, eating the snake fillet, and then another.
Yes, snake does taste like chicken. The texture, at least of the snake I ate, was chicken-esque.
My next goal, a difficult one, is eating monkey. Yes, the look cute on TV, that’s just good PR. If you have ever dealt with a real monkey (the little bastards) you’d ask for an invite to the feast.
OMG Stevo! Please don’t eat monkey! Snake is bad enough! It makes me ill just thinking of it, Asia/China is so imhumane when it comes to the treatment of animals. Good God.
Right… and animal rights is any more “humane” anywhere else in the world? Please don’t be so racially stereotypical, just because you might not like the idea of eating wild animals like that, it still is not a reason to critise or have a prejudice against their culture. After all, everybody is different. So please more understanding.
I think you may be a liitle bit ignorant (not saying stupid) about some of the inhumane treatment of animals in Asia, which are probably to be taken to be cultural (rather than racial – race is an ill-defined term). For example, 生き作り (ikitsukuri) – eating animals, such as octopus, alive just does seem to be an inhumane treatment of an animal (if that phrase has any sense at all – which since we understand it, I take it to have). We might say this is an inhumane act and mean it pejoratively as a cultural critique (rather than a racial critique -race, as said, has no definition). Given we are offering a cultural critique, the critique is justifiable in the same way as criticising other culturally based inhumane acts are.
I’d suggest you take a little time out to educate yourself about practices, ideas about, and treatments of animals in Asia.
Uncalled for comments are uncalled for, the one who is being ignorant is you for calling someone else ignorant. So take a little time to actually know what you are talking about before criticising someone else who may very well know way more than you about Asia. Your so called “cultural critique” is offensive no matter what you call it, if you don’t care about what others feel, there are plenty who do, so don’t be so rude and actually consider what you say before saying it.
Hey, they slaughter cows, pigs, chicken and goats alive in America. How is this any different? Why not stand up for rights against them? You’ll be laughed at!! At least the snake wine is a delicacy in a way. I hate you hypocrites!!
You gonna eat the little buggers brain while alive before you roast him and put on monkey bread? 😀 Can you say,”exotic Chinese cuisine?”
.-= Mark Forman´s last blog ..Taiwan Design Expo 09 =-.
You are a much more adventurous eater than I will ever be. I would try snake, but not monkey. Too close to human looking.
.-= Robin´s last blog ..Haunted Head =-.
Hello,
Do you know where to find different chinese medecine as Snake wine ? I already bought this one:
asiansnakewine dot com
But I am now looking for different types of natural medecine (for example with LIZARD inside the bottle).
Thanks for help.
(by the way I found your website on Google when looking for Snake wine bottles)
Our mission for today is to go out and find kangaroo and crocodile meat to try. We don’t want to pay $32 for a plate of either so we’re going to set out away from the main tourist drag to see if we can find a cheaper alternative. Then there’s always the grocery store and the public barbecues on the beach across from out hotel, in case we fail at finding the ready-made stuff!
But snake! No, I don’t think I’d try that. You are much braver tan I!
.-= Corina´s last blog ..Crikey! =-.
Oh my goodness those look delicious!