Snake soup
These two snakes are not just meant to be symbols of the Chinese year of the snake, which begins on Feb. 10. They are meant to be dinner.
The reptiles are in a Hong Kong shop, where they will be sold as ingredients for snake soup – a traditional dish, believed to be good for the health. However, shops like this may be a dying breed, as fewer young people want to work in them, seeing the business as hard and dirty.
A worker holds snakes which were caught in mainland China and have had their teeth removed.
Customers eat snake soup beside wooden cupboards containing the reptiles.
Cages filled with snakes stand outside the kitchen of a snake soup shop.
Customers slurp the soup.
A worker prepares snake soup for customers. From boiling the essence out of snake, chicken and pig bones, to spicing it up with an array of ingredients that include five types of snake meat, the traditional southern Chinese snack can take more than six hours to make.
The thick soup is flavoured with hints of lemongrass, while the snake itself tastes like chicken but is tougher.
Snake soup is believed to speed up the body's blood flow and keep it strong in the cold winter months.
