Pizza Hut Offering Snake Pizza in Hong Kong

We’ve all heard of snakes on a plane, but how about snakes on a pizza?

Well, Pizza Hut is making that combination of words a reality for customers in Hong Kong.

While snake may not be a common ingredient in the United States, it is the main element of a beloved winter stew in Hong Kong and southern China. 

The pizza used shredded snake meat, black mushrooms, and Chinese dried ham to replicate the flavors of snake stew.

“Paired with cheese and diced chicken, the snake meat becomes richer in taste,” Pizza Hut Hong Kong said in a statement last week, per CNN.

Snake meat is believed to have medicinal properties, including boosting blood circulation and improving skin. 

“Combined with pizza, it marks a breakthrough from the conventional concept of what maintaining good health means while challenging one’s taste buds,” the pizza chain added.

The pizza will be on sale until Nov. 22 and features abalone sauce instead of a traditional tomato sauce within its 9-inch of dough.

The company teamed up with a longtime snake restaurant in Hong Kong to develop the recipe, CNN reported.

Ser Wong Fun has been in operation since 1895 and helped the company use a mix of Chinese rat snakes, banded kraits, and banded snakes for the pizza, Pizza Hut Hong Kong General Manager ​​Karen Chan told the news outlet.

“The extraordinary snake pizzas offer a perfect balance to all flavors, both tantalizing and savory for this season,” she said.

Snake meat is not just eaten in Hong Kong and southern China but other Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand. 

Hong Kong native Rachel Wong told CNN she was excited about the new menu item.

“The texture is a bit like chicken and tastes like fish and other kinds of seafood. So I love having it as a high-protein meal during winter,” she said.

A saying in the local Cantonese dialect says the best time to enjoy snake soup is “when the autumn wind begins to blow,” the outlet reported.