Hiss... Hiss... Yummy

Small food stalls on the sidewalk often is our choice in filling up our stomach, and not just for the taste, the price is pretty good as well, and by that, it means it doesn’t suck up all the money in our wallets like those fancy restaurants. Now, chicken, beef, all kinds of seafood, or even pork is getting kind of boring, what if there are regular food stalls that sells a different type of animal. This animal is spineless, scaly, mostly found in between bushes or swamps, the fossilized ones were discovered to be millions of years old, and in the Bible, it is even said that it was the reason that mankind fell into sin. What animal is this? You guessed it, snakes!

Not far from Tangerang, in Pasar Paramount Serpong to be exact, there is a food stall named Tenda Mahkota Cobra (or the Crown of Cobra’s Tent) that sells snakes cooked in different ways. This place does all kinds of things with the snakes, there are snake satays, shredded snake, fried snake, snake soup, and they even made oil and ointment from snakes to heal sickness. They also sell lizards in Tenda Mahkota Cobra, but the snakes are the prima donnas of this place.

“Husni, My late father started this business about 40 years ago, and of course it doesn’t start with this stall right away, it started from the house. My father was a snake lover, he owned more than 3 snakes at the time. Someday, someone came and asked my father to make a medicine out of the snakes. Since my father gave his favorite snake to help others, he then thinks to start this business,” said Dirman, the current owner of Tenda Mahkota Cobra.

In Mangga Besar, Jakarta, there is also another place that sell snakes as a culinary treat among other things, named Istana Raja Kobra (or The Castle of the King Cobra). This small restaurant is indoor, so you don’t have to worry about getting wet in the rain. There’s a whole lot of exotic animals offered in this place, such as crocodiles, monkey brains, squirrels, even bats, but again, the snakes are the best seller due to its various use. When you enter this place, there’s a blasting smell of God-knows-what just went up your nose, if you are a first-timer in trying exotic food like these, you would be pretty nervous because it gives a whole other vibe than a normal restaurant. And when you get over the smell, all around the place you can see bags, belts, wallets, and packaged foods that are made from snakes.

The python is a nonvenomous snake that can be found in Africa and large parts of Asia. There are currently 12 known species in the Python family, so that’s a lot. The biggest type of python is the python reticulatus, the adult can reach the length of 6.95 meters, which makes it one of the largest snakes in the world.

Most of the python genus can be found here in Indonesia, so getting them is not actually a problem. Making the edible and delicious is more difficult than getting the snakes itself. Due to the amount of pythons, pythons became the best seller in Istana Raja Kobra because it is cheaper than the other dishes. Pythons are very useful in this place, because every part of it can be used. The meat of the snake itself can be used to cure impotency, stroke, cancer, and is good for slowing down aging because it is good for the skin. One of the most useful parts of the python is the blood and the gall. Drinking the blood and the gall of snakes is believed to increase sex drive, and to heal sicknesses such as asthma, coughing, a weak heart, and, also it is believed that it could keep a person stamina’s up and strengthen a woman’s womb.

The blood of the snake must be served fresh, along with the gall, so it would only be done if someone ordered it in the restaurant. The process of getting the blood and the gall of the snake is not an easy task, a series of steps must be completed and can only be done by experts. The first step is taking the snake itself from the containment unit, then the most dangerous part of the snake, the head, is sliced off. Naturally, after being sliced off, blood would gush out, and that blood is the one used as a drink and poured into a small cup. Next, the snake is skinned so it would be easier to get to the gall. Taking the gall out from the snake must be done slowly and carefully because the gall is very fragile and be easily popped. After that is done, arak and honey is mixed with the blood of the python in the cup so it would give that sweetness taste.

Now, the place isn’t named Istana Raja Kobra for nothing. Just because pythons are the better seller, doesn’t mean there’s no cobras sold. The King Cobra is a rare snake, and can’t be found as easily as pythons, it is venomous and dangerous, but because of that, the meat, the blood and other parts of the King Cobra is a lot more expensive. While the fried pythons can cost only about Rp. 25.000, the King Cobra can quadruple that price, or even can reach Rp. 200.000. The cobra’s full body from its head to bottom even made a nice belt even it is preserved, with a rightful price that is.

(Written By: Reinaldo Oliver Daniel Yusak - 0000 000 2015)