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Snake wine is an alcoholic beverage produced by infusing whole snakes in rice wine or grain alcohol. The drink was first recorded to have been consumed in China during the Western Zhou dynasty and considered an important curative and believed to reinvigorate a person according to Traditional Chinese medicine. It can be found in China, North-Korea, Goa , Vietnam, Okinawa , Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and throughout Southeast Asia.
The snakes, preferably venomous ones, are not usually preserved for their meat but to have their "essence" and/or snake venom dissolved in the liquor. The snake venom proteins are unfolded by the ethanol and therefore the completed beverage is usually, but not always, safe to drink.The Huaxi street night market of Taipei, Taiwan, is renowned for its snake foods and wine products.