Many Taiwanese eat traditional herbal or tonic food during the winter because they believe it can strengthen their bodies, and many travel books or tourism Web sites direct tourists interested in this custom to Taipei’s Huaxi Street (華西街) night market to try a special tonic food: snake.
Until a few years ago, the public slaughter and skinning of snakes was once a famous — or infamous — attraction at the night market, drawing many curious tourists to see how live snakes were killed and made into dishes or wine.
The performances were banned as public awareness of animal welfare and environmental protection increased, and to comply with Article 13 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), which states that “animals are not allowed to be slaughtered at public places or in places accessible by the public.”
“We don’t perform those shows anymore … at least there weren’t any last year,” the owner of a snake cuisine restaurant surnamed Hung (洪) said.
However, bowls of hot soup with pieces of cooked snake meat and herbal ingredients; pan-fried or baked snake meat; snake oil pills; wine glasses filled with red, clear and yellow liquids said to be made of snake blood; snake penis wine and snake gall are still being served at snake cuisine restaurants.
“We have all kinds of visitors, not only foreign tourists, but also Taiwanese … people with skin ailments also like to come,” Hung said. “Snake meat soup is the most popular dish because it cools an overheated body, as well as revitalizes and nourishes the skin.”
“Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes eating snake meat soup to alleviate fever and for detox,” Taipei Chinese Medical Association chairperson Chen Chih-fang (陳志芳) said. “In the past, when a person had a skin irritation that did not heal, they were told to take the soup to cool the heat in their blood to improve their condition.”
“It was also believed that snake gall was effective for removing ‘heat’ from the liver — which is manifested through symptoms such as a dry mouth and tongue, constipation, tinnitus or dark--yellow urine — and improving eyesight, ” he added.
However, snake meat or gall should not be consumed raw and should only be taken under the guidance of a Chinese medicine practitioner because each person has specific needs and physical conditions, and raw meat or internal organs may carry parasites, Chen said.
When asked when a doctor would prescribe snake as medicine, he said that most doctors would not prescribe snake meat or body parts because they are considered to be a tonic food.
He added that people with “cold” body temperatures, such as those who often look pale, have cold hands and feet, or have gastrointestinal problems, should not eat snake.
Chen Lei-ru (陳蕾如), a pediatrician at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Hsinchu branch, said the functions and effects of eating snake are rarely discussed in Western medicine, which focuses mostly on the treatment of poisonous snake bites.
“However, eating snake body parts raw should be avoided because snakes may carry salmonella or other parasites and there have been reported cases of illnesses caused by consuming raw snake parts in other countries,” she said.
The source of the snakes is another factor that could affect food safety, as wild snakes could ingest pesticide and captive-bred snakes could have been fed artificial additives, she said.
Chen Chih-fang said he has heard that most of the snakes for consumption are now raised in farms, but Hung said that many of those seen in restaurants are wild snakes.
Responding to questions about the source of the snakes and food safety regulations, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said that because snakes are not listed as an economic livestock, they are not regulated by the bureau, but the Forestry Bureau regulates the capture of all protected species.
“The source of the snakes is unknown … the owners usually say they were purchased from a farm,” an unnamed official at the Taipei City Government’s agency for animal protection said.
The official added that restaurant owners could be fined if the snakes they sold were protected species, as stipulated by the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法).
The majority of the snakes seen at restaurants are not in violation of the act because they are unprotected species, such as the big-eye rat snake or the dhaman rat snake, the official said, adding that recent inspections have not uncovered any public killings.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS