Tasty Treats

Every culture has their 'tasty treats' - food and drink that are truly unique and very rarely found outside of the country of origin. Vietnam is no exception and so far I have seen (but have yet to try) the fermented snake alcohol or the fermented lizard/crow alcohol.

Or maybe I should write, nobody has actually told me if I have consumed snake/lizard/crow alcohol or not. While I was still staying at the Sports Hotel, the lovesick clerk who befriended me asked me one night to join him for a nightcap to celebrate his birthday. I obliged, and the night staff at the hotel and I all gathered in the lobby and were served a grainy, cloudy looking liquor in very innocent and dainty looking tea cups. We raised our glasses in a toast as if we were having a civilized english tea (minus the cucumber sandwhiches) and chugged the concoction back. It was a homebrew of something. I'm not sure what! But I can only guess.

I also came across some crunchy looking, multi-pedal critters all balled up near a food stand. When I tried to ask if they were for eating, I failed to elicit a straightforward response from the vendor. So I am guessing they are eaten, but not entirely sure on that one.

Dog meat is also eaten here. I know this is difficult for most North Americans to "digest" (Did I just make that joke? Yes, I did just make that joke). But I have been reassued by friends that the dog meat that is consumed is actually "raised" or "farmed". Stray dogs and people's pets are not hunted down in the streets and eaten. It's the equivalent of North Americans eating ostrich meat from ostrich farms and calling it "game meat". Same same.

While in Sapa on a trekking adventure, I also stumbled upon a "URANUS" Energy Drink that is supposed to be the "Taste of Thailand".

Tasty treats indeed.

P.S. - I have a phobia of snakes and almost fainted taking this picture.