Guest guest Posted May 24, 2001 Report Share Posted May 24, 2001 By VIJAY JOSHI Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- Traditional medicines take various forms in various places. In Southeast Asia they can be scaly, slithering and venomous-at least while they are alive. The blood, bile and flesh of snakes have long provided popular remedies for a range of ailments among rural folk in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. While the efficacy of the purported cures is far from proven, business is booming at a rooftop restaurant in Myanmar's capital that serves reptile-based concoctions and snake meat cooked in its open-air kitchen. " Snake (meat) is good for the nervous system. Its bile is good for the liver, " claims U Tin, owner of the Roof Top Seafood Restaurant, popular not only among locals but also visiting Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean businessmen and tourists. " Those who drink too much and smoke too much eat the bile as it helps cleanse the toxic matter from the liver, " he added. Wildlife officials worry the trade could be a threat to the survival of snake species but don't have the funds for research to check. " Snake medicines is not a fad. It is quite a big business. It is a tradition, " said Eric Coull, the Worldwide Fund for Nature representative for Indochina, based in Hanoi, Vietnam. " It is one of those things. People believe snake is good for the health. " At U Tin's restaurant, squeamish diners prefer to sit at the tables while the more adventurous like to watch their dinner's preparation. They pick their meal from a sandpit cage and watch it cut, quartered and boiled. The menu includes snakes such as krait, viper, cobra and python. An apothecary in a corner of the restaurant displays glass vats containing snake heads, snake penises and entire snakes pickled in rice alcohol. The " snake wine " is pumped out by plastic tube and sold for 200 kyats (35 cents) a shot. The restaurant, which also serves eel, fish and lobster, is on top of the Theingyi Zei, the biggest and dingiest market in Yangon. As U Tin's visiting card points out, it offers " Fresh Air. Fresh Food. Pagoda View, " a reference to the Shwedagon Pagoda, a huge gold plated Buddhist temple on a hill that is Myanmar's most popular tourist spot. On a recent visit, taxi driver Tin Maung Oo, his wife, son and mother-in-law keenly followed the proceedings in assistant chef Win Hlaing's pantry. Win Hlaing began by dipping a tong into a wooden cage and extricating a writhing branded krait for inspection. Tin Maung Oo and his family unanimously shook their head. Too skinny, they said. Out came another, about one meter (3 feet) long. " Oh yes, that's a good one, " said Tin Maung Oo, 46, dressed in a longyi, or sarong, and a baseball cap. The price tag was 2,500 kyats (dlrs 4), a princely sum in a country where university professors earn just earn 6,000 kyats (dlrs 12) a month. Tin Maung Oo got a discount of 500 kyat (80 cents) because his family intended to cook the snake at home. Gripping the reptile with two tongs-one crushing down its head and the other holding its body-Win Hlaing placed it on a chopping block. Too dazed to move, the snake lay still. Seconds later, Win Hlaing brought a chopper down, severing the head. Quickly, he dangled the snake over a glass half filled with alcohol and squeezed out the blood as if from a giant toothpaste tube. The crimson liquid was poured into one plastic bag while the snake was stuffed into another, still wriggling from involuntary nervous stimulus. Tin Maung Oo said his mother-in-law, visiting from her village, had a craving for snake meat, being a regular snake eater. He said it was also a good opportunity to introduce his son to the meat. At home, they planned to cut the snake into three or four pieces, boil them for an hour, strip the skin, remove the entrails and separate the flesh, which would then be cooked with onions, chilies and oil. " It tastes like chicken, " Tin Maung Oo said. Win Hlaing said the restaurant serves 15 to 30 snakes daily, bought every week from professional snake catchers in jungle and river villages. The restaurant also exports dried and powdered snakes to customers abroad. " The first time I killed and cooked a snake I was afraid. But now I have no feelings, " said Win Hlaing, 19. He recommends drinking the blood immediately after the slaughter when it is still warm. " It smells a bit strange and becomes sticky and thick after a half-hour. But you can mix it with alcohol to keep it longer " he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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