What Does Snake Taste Like?

Life is good at the top of the food chain. If you really wanted to (and don't mind the risk of being mauled or thrown in jail), you could eat basically any other animal in existence. Heck, we've even figured out how to eat toxic animals, like puffer fish. But contrary to what you might have heard, they don't all taste like chicken. Snake is actually a rather popular protein in parts of the world, but does it actually taste any good?

"Rattlesnake tastes, when breaded and fried, like a sinewy, half-starved tilapia," according to The New York Times. Called "desert whitefish" in the Southwest, it's reportedly "bland and difficult to eat," tough, sinewy, and full of little bones. There's very little in the way of actual flavor.

If you want to eat snake for yourself, we suggest that instead of trying to work your way through it whole, you trim off as much meat as possible and add it to a stew or soup, or combine it with pork or chicken in a sausage. That way you can tell your guests they're eating rattlesnake without making everyone choke on tiny bones. If you want to eat the heart, that's up to you.