But Cantonese people eat snakes mostly for their taste. There is a famous dish called "Dragon and Tiger in Battle". It's actually a snake and a cat cooked but preserved as they were in life. I've heard stories that it was served to distinguished guests from Western countries, who, upon taking one look at it, promptly fainted.
A decade ago, there was a theme park in a suburb of Guangzhou that was devoted to snakes. It was a zoo full of all kinds of snake species. As a publicity stunt, the owner put his daughter, probably a snake charmer, into a cage with hundreds of snakes, where she stayed for so long it broke the Guinness Record - or so it was claimed.
Afterwards, a group of local celebrities were invited to a banquet, where a dozen courses were served, each one a dish of snakes but cooked in different ways.
I tagged along and swore I would never touch or eat a snake. But I was encouraged to break my personal prohibition out of courtesy for the host. It turned out snakes were not that delicious, at least to me. The meat was rough and chewy, hardly as tasty and delicate as eels, which my friends said I should pretend they were.
The most famous Chinese legend involving snakes puts a decidedly positive spin on their portrayal. Madame White Snake has been told in myriad operas, movies and television serials. The basic plot goes like this: The spirit of a white snake transforms herself into a beautiful maiden, who goes by the name Bai Suzhen and falls in love with Xu Xian, a mortal living by Hangzhou's scenic lake. They later get married.
Before they can live happily ever after, a monk named Fahai, who used to be a terrapin spirit, tricks Xu Xian into coercing his wife into drinking realgar wine, which reveals her true form as a snake. Xu Xian is so scared that he falls ill. Bai flies to Mount Emei and steals a medicinal herb that revives her husband.
Overloaded truck crushes bridge in NW China
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