Snake Alley Taiwan

The Snake Alley in Taipei is one of the most known parts of the city. It is a narrow alley lined with snack shops that sell mostly snake meat. Though there are a number of other shops selling clothes and souvenirs, the alley is particularly known for its snake shops. This market on the Hushai Street remains open twenty four hours a day, serving authentic preparations of snake meat, snake soup and snake blood.

The snake alley is marked by its unique style of serving food which might often turn to be a little grotesque in form. The shops serving snake food first give their diners a display of the snakes they are soon going to land on their plates. After the snakes are danced by the snake charmers, the animals are slit open and the oozing blood collected is served later with alcohol. Snake blood is considered to be a delicacy here and the shops serve curious concoctions of snake blood, snake bile and liquor.

The Snake Alley had once been regarded as a prized possession of the city. Taiwanese aestheticism had however changed over the decades and the market today has considerably sobered down in essence. Many of the old snake shops are now replaced by Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese food stalls and eateries that serve even popular international food like burgers and steaks. The infamous brothels that once crowded Snake Alley are also less visible now. The Snake Alley survives today as a fascinating haunt buzzing with stores that harmonizes strange traditions of the past and popular needs of the present.