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5 Snake stew
Widely popularised in the Qing dynasty, snake stew (蛇羹; se4 gang1) is a Cantonese dish that had its heyday in the 1980s. These days, it is more of a dwindling industry because of the dangers involved in dealing with venomous animals, not to mention the bureaucracy regarding importing such livestock. However, there are still people in Hong Kong who turn to Snake King shops—so named to symbolise expertise in cooking snakes—during the wintertime because it is a “warming” food. There is also a Chinese saying that “when the autumn winds blow, the snakes get fat” (秋風起,三蛇肥; cau1 fung1 hei2 saam1 se4 fei4), so the colder months are the ideal time to eat snakes as they become plumper and more nutritious preparing for hibernation.
Snake soups are usually made with at least two varieties of snake meat shredded into slivers, cooked with pork bones, chicken, mushrooms, and herbs. Common snake species used in such cooking include Chinese cobras, banded kraits, sharp-nosed pit vipers, and Chinese rat snakes, though some restaurants will tailor the kind of snake served to the kind of health benefit you wish to achieve. Aside from being warming, it is also believed that consuming snakes will alleviate migraines and arthritis. And in case you are wondering, snakes taste more like eel than chicken.