Pizza Hut, an American pizza chain, has launched a new menu item in Hong Kong featuring snake meat, according to a report by CNN on the 8th (local time).
The new menu item, which Pizza Hut Hong Kong will sell until the 22nd, features finely chopped snake meat, Enoki mushrooms, and traditional Chinese dried ham on top of the pizza, with abalone sauce instead of tomato sauce.
The pizza toppings are similar to the ingredients used in snake soup, a traditional dish enjoyed as a winter tonic in Hong Kong and southern China.
Pizza Hut Hong Kong announced that it collaborated with Ser Wong Fun, a snake meat specialty shop that has been in operation for 128 years, to develop this menu.
Karen Chan, General Manager of Pizza Hut Hong Kong Macau, revealed that the new menu incorporates part of the secret recipe from She Wong Fun, using a mix of Chinese cobra, banded krait, and white-striped snake meat.
“This special snake pizza will offer a perfect balance of all flavors, carrying both savory and aromatic notes for this season,” she said.
Some Hong Kong and southern China gourmets have long enjoyed snake meat as a winter tonic.
There is a belief that consuming soup made with snakes, which starts to gain weight in preparation for hibernation in the fall and winter, improves the skin and warms the body.
In the Cantonese dialect of the region, it is commonly said that “the best time to eat snake is when the autumn wind starts to blow.”
A CNN reporter who tasted the new menu reported that the texture of the snake meat was similar to dry chicken.
Rachel Wong, a Hong Kong native who has enjoyed snake soup since childhood, told CNN that she was looking forward to the new menu, saying, “The texture of snake meat is similar to chicken, and the taste is similar to seafood. I enjoy eating snake meat as a high-protein food in winter.”
CNN reported that this new menu from Pizza Hut Hong Kong appears to be a marketing tactic to generate buzz online.
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