Best Blogs .
Stir-fried Snake .
The town of Buntulu , near the Kelawit River in Borneo , has a favourite recipe in which meat is grilled or fried with vegetables and then served with rice . Sounds pretty standard fare – except that the meat in question is actually snake !
So the townsfolk were understandably delighted when hunters recently brought in a massive 20-foot ( six-metre ) Reticulated Python , along with her much smaller mate , upon which they would feast for days . The hunting party had heard noises emanating from a hollow log . Tinsung Ujang recalled , “ I looked down into the hole in the wood and was surprised to see the female mating with a smaller male snake . We had to split the timber to reach them . They were locked together ; I have never seen snakes mating before .”
The snakes were extricated with the aid of a chainsaw , before being shot and taken back to town on the back of a pick-up truck . Their arrival was greeted by cheers from hungry locals !
Snake meat has long been considered a delicacy in many cultures . Snake soup , in which the main ingredient is the shredded meat of at least two species of snakes , has been relished by the Chinese for more than 2,000 years , not least because it is purported to have medicinal qualities and represents a symbol of wealth and machismo . The popularity of this dish boomed in Hong Kong in the 1980s , with more than 100 restaurants specialising in snake soup .
Head over to the iHerp Australia website for your weekly serve of news and comment . Here is one of our recent blogs :
well-rehearsed pantomime which involves disembowelling the live reptile , and then draining its blood and bile , together with the still-beating heart , into shot glasses , which are then knocked back by patrons in a sort of ‘ rite of passage ’. The rest of the meat is then served up in an extravagant array of different courses .
Snakes are also widely consumed in West Africa , and snake meat is used as part of traditional medicine in South America .
And let ’ s not forget the US , where rattlesnake round-ups are still held in at least ten states , and a portion of the catch ends up on the table , often barbecued or southern fried . Although targetted by conservationists and animal welfare groups , these events can be important to local economies , with the largest round-up , in Sweetwater , Texas , attracting around 30,000 visitors every year .
For the original story go to : www . dailymail . co . uk / news / article-5380727 / Hungryvillagers-Borneo-cook-20ft-python-stir-fry . html
Similiarly , the village of La Mat , now a suburb of Hanoi , in Vietnam , is famous for a number of eateries that offer all manner of exotic wildlife . Snakes are prepared in a
Above : delicious ! Snake soup has been relished in China for more than 2,000 years . Image by DavidNNP . Left : grilled snakes on sale in a food market in China . Image by WeStudio .
Image by Michael Cermak .
43