Reptiles as delicacies

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23334, 28 October 1937, Page 15

Reptiles as delicacies

POWDERS TO CURE DISEASE Snakes are not usually thought of as a gastronomic delicacy. Yet one thousand reptiles of various sizes, shapes and colours are consumed every day in Tokio, mainly in powdered form after being baked. There is a traditional belief that powdered snake is a sovereign cure for disease, especially for consumption. Modern medical research discredits the idea that there is any exceptional curative power about snake flesh. Some restrictions have been placed on advertisements which play too crudely on the popular credulity in this respect. Some stimulating value is recognised in powered snake, and its sale as a tonic is permitted. A large wholesale establishment is the so-called Snake House in the Asakusa district of Tokio. The Snake House handles 100,000 reptiles every year and keeps 10,000 constantly' in stock in the basements in order to supply retail dealers at all times. So intensive has been the hunt for snakes that the supply has visibly diminished, except in the two southern islands of Kyushu and Shikoku. Mr Zenkichi Asami, proprietor of the Snake House, recently became reminiscent about some of his more striking business experiences. One of its early advertising methods was periodically to let loose a few of its inmates. This provided just the kind of " copy " the Japanese newspapers, always in search of a local sensation, desires, and the house became better known as a result. On one occasion Mr Asami got into trouble with the police because a customer who had bought some live snakes threw them from the 'balcony on to the stage when one of the most famous Japanese actors, Sadanji, was performing. Sadanji had been in Moscow, and the snakes were thrown at him as a rebuke. The Snake House also keeps for credulous patrons a large variety of other animals, in whole or in parts, in baked form. Its list of goods includes squirrels, salamanders, weasels, goldfish, snails, larks, frogs,